Do You Remember?
by DarkHououmon
Summary: "You just don't get it, do you? The memory is a moldable, constantly changing factor. All I am doing is giving it a little...push."
1. Prologue

Skrawl grumbled as he returned home from another unsuccessful attempt at defeating Rudy Tabootie. He formed a fist with his hand, shaking it, as he stormed back into his hideout. He ground his teeth so hard, he though they were going to pop out of his mouth. He did not need to say a word to any of the Beanie Boys; his whole stature and demeanor was enough to tell them that he was not in the mood to speak to them.

He stomped towards his living quarters. He pushed anything blocking him out of the way. He didn't care how far they rolled or where they landed. Even if they smashed against something, he simply did not care. All he could think about was his failure and how stupid he was to not have seen through their clever trick.

This certainly wasn't like him. He would normally be able to get around their tricks and be able to stop them. Okay so he was defeated regularly, but this time was worse. He had fallen due to his own stupidity, rather than the luck of the draw like it had always been before.

The plan had been so simple, and yet he had overcomplicated it. He had not been too efficient in the plan, and that allowed Rudy and his friends to get the jump on him. He had been sent packing and now he was back at his hideout, trying hard not to slap himself many times across the face. If he had only seen Rudy rush towards that tree before it was too late...

He slammed his fist against the nearest wall. The force of it caused part of it to crack, spreading upwards towards the ceiling. He glared at it for a few moments, baring his teeth. He then turned himself away and headed towards the single, dark purple couch. He sat down in it and leaned back. He could feel the cushion underneath him move down a little due to his weight. He crossed one limb over the other. He reached over towards the remote control, grabbed it, and lifted it up. He pointed it to the television and turned it on.

"Today on Snap Shots..."

Skrawl gritted his teeth. It was that annoying blue freak that liked to tag along with Rudy everywhere. After just being humiliated by him, Skrawl was not interested in hearing anything he had to say. Just hearing his voice was enough to make him want to tear something apart.

He lifted up the remote and was about to change the channel when something caught his eye. On display in the picture next to Snap was some kind of bird-like creature. Well more like a bird crossed with a lizard. It stood on two long, thin legs, the thighs a bit thick with muscle. Its wings were small with short feathers. He couldn't tell if it could fly or not. Its head was like a rooster, complete with a red waddle and crown, and the signature thin to thick slick neck he came to associate with a rooster. The feathers stopped at its chest and the rest of the body, save for its 'wings' and some sparse feathering, it was scaley, with a long, reptilian tail jetting out from behind.

The creature was a blazing crimson with an orange underside and yellow tips on the feathers, along with some black eye markings. The thing looked obviously evil, and Skrawl guessed that was the creator's intent. That was clear from the bright brown eyes with slit pupils practically staring at him through the screen.

"This is the memotrice. It has recently appeared in ChalkZone. It has the power to alter memories, and those with memory-based powers are the most susceptible. But never fear, fellow zoners. The little creature has been captured by some brave folks with helmets to fight against the powers' effects and taken to isolated lockdown where it won't be able to do anymore harm."

Skrawl narrowed his eyes at this. His interest peaked, he continued to watch the stupid show to learn more about this creature. Something that could change memories... Such an ability would be powerful...but also risky. Yet if he could harness that power...

Skrawl smiled inwardly at the thought of what he could do with that power. The possibilities were endless. Often the best place to attack someone wasn't the body, but the mind. Using that power, he could target the minds of his greatest enemies. He could remove Rudy, Penny, and Snap as obstacles. He could change their whole personalities just by tweaking a few things in their memory. It was amazing just how much could be changed with one little alteration. He just needed to pick the right one and...

He stopped himself, narrowing his eyes softly. There were still some problems with the plan. The first and foremost, he didn't have the memotrice with him. He would need to capture it, and bring it to his lair. And before that, he needed a helmet to make sure that his own mind isn't affected by the foul creature. And when he did get it, he would need to figure out how to make it obey him. It wasn't going to be of much use to him if it won't listen to his commands.

Then there was the fact that the trio weren't that stupid. Even in his anger, he had to admit that they could be quite clever. He wasn't sure if the memotrice's powers worked on more than one individual at a time, and if it did, then wouldn't one of the trio realize what was happening and try to stop it? Skrawl realized he might be a little paranoid, but after the way he was defeated, he wanted to make sure that he thought of more angles this time around to ensure a repeat will not occur.

So...how was he going to do this? How would he get the memotrice out and target Rudy, Penny, and Snap, preferably separated, and change their memories so they would not be able to fight back?

There had to be a way to do it. He just needed to think long and hard on this. He was Skrawl, the smartest zoner in all of ChalkZone. He didn't care what anyone else said. He was the most clever and if Craniac 4 had just listened to him, then they would have won and stopped Rudy long ago. Now as for this...

It might be a little too tricky. How would he be able to single them out? Well there was Snap. He could target him first and take him here, where he could test out the memotrice's power. Yeah, that just might work. Snap was the easiest one to get, and he was so small. He wouldn't be able to fight back all that well.

But perhaps there was an even better way to go about this. Targeting Snap would be easy and effective. It would strike at the hearts of those two brats and it would make it harder for them to fight back. After all, how could they fight against their own friend? Yet... He started to wonder about another possibility. Yes, going after Snap was easy, but it was too easy. What if he did something else that no one would expect? What if he targeted a...much larger target?

Skrawl was aware that there were no actual leaders of ChalkZone. Not one individual that controlled everything. Yes there were areas with leaders, but only of those areas. Chalk-based kingdoms had kings and queens for example. But if there was one individual who had a strong influence on everyone, someone whom no one would dare go up against and to whom everyone listened to, it was the giant that guarded the Chalk Mine.

Biclops.

Skrawl could see why everyone would listen to him. He guarded the mystical magic chalk, which any human could use to draw with and create, make drawings come to life. He practically regulated the item that could, in a second, be turned against them should a dangerous human wind up in ChalkZone. It also helped that Biclops was huge, easily towering over the other zoners, and his own massive muscle walls made him a one zoner army. Yes, if he had that zoner on his side...

It helped that, according to Snap, a zoner with memory-based powers were the most affected. And that's just what Biclops was. A memory-based powered zoner. He could show visions of the past in those large eyes of his, and he could also show visions of a possible future as well. He would be more easily affected by the memotrice's powers than Snap would.

Skrawl could feel a twinkle in his eye. The gears in his head began to turn slowly as he stared out at the television, listening to what Snap said about the creature. He watched the various footage of it, listening to the people screaming, some gripping their heads as their memories were getting rewritten. He watched as the creature made a loud screech and jumped over some of the officer zoners, darting away into the distance before anyone could catch it that time.

"I know that was horrible to watch. But do not worry. You can relax. As I said before, this beast was recently captured and contained. It is currently being held at Danger Imporium, where some of the most dangerous creatures ever erased into ChalkZone are being held." Snap wiped his brow and rubbed his head. "Geeze..doesn't anyone draw nice things anymore...?"

The television went black as Skrawl shut it off. His mouth was ticked in a toothy grin. He raised a limb up so he could tap his digits together. He stared out ahead at nothing as he began to formulate a plan in his head.

If he could get a hold of that creature... And if he could use it to alter Biclops's memory...

Oh the things he could do with that power. There were so many possibilities, it was hard for him to pick just one. Should he make Biclops forget who he was and let him wander around ChalkZone helplessly? Should he make him believe that they were partners at one point in time? Should he have his personality altered so he would be more difficult for Rudy and the others to work with?

Wait...he got it. He knew exactly what he was going to do. He remembered how Skrawl hated creators at first and had thought that Rudy would be just like the others. Biclops would have even hurt him if he and Snap hadn't been clever enough to get out of there. If he tricked Biclops into thinking Rudy really was like that, that he hadn't been helping ChalkZone as much as he thought, but instead was causing damage and destruction..

Skrawl felt a sense of twisted glee rush through his body. He felt so giddy, his body shaking in excitement. He wanted to jump up and do a victory dance to release some of the energy. But no, he had to keep himself calm. He needed to make a move soon in order to set everything in place.

It wasn't going to be easy, but it was going to be worth it in the end. If he could successfully alter the giant's memories and get him to turn against Rudy and the others, then he would affectively cut Rudy's access to the magic chalk and leave him defenseless. And with him defenseless, he could go in...for the kill.

He let out a cold laughter, startling and scaring his Beanie Boys. He raised up his hand, the claws glinting in the light. Then he struck down against the couch. His long, sharp claws slashed into the couch, creating a series of three long gashes in the material. For a moment, he imagined that it was Rudy's stomach he had clawed into, envisioning the blood spilling out, staining the ground and his claws. He took in a few heavy breaths, his dark smile still plastered over his face. His breathing transformed into more chuckles.

Oh yes, this time, things were going to be much different.


	2. A Gruesome Start

Biclops took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. It was beautiful out today. Not that it made a huge difference of course. It was always like this, unless some child decided to erase a storm or something. Such things were unpredictable, which made him appreciate these calmer moments even more. He moved his arms outward, feeling his muscles stretch with them. He opened his mouth and yawned, and took a look around.

It had sometimes gotten boring standing out here, looking around for any sign of trouble. Not many dare to try to come near the Chalk Mine. Most wouldn't want to trifle with him, given his size and strength. In fact, the only ones who had dared get close were Skrawl and his Beanie Boys. And of course, Rudy and Snap.

He had made a special exception for Rudy and his friends, though. He had learned to trust them over the past couple of years. They had proven themselves trusthworthy, and he had allowed them entrance to the mine.

He granted the most privilege to Rudy Tabootie himself. He had gone out of his way to help zoners in need, and he was the one who normally used the chalk. Penny, who had recently joined a few months ago or so, used it once or twice, but she never started to use it regularly. She usually left that up to Rudy. After all, he was the artist of the group.

He was expecting to see the trio at some point today. He had overheard a zoner state that he had used almost all of his chalk up and would need to get more soon. That was part of the reason he was standing out here, aside from guarding it from intruders who likely would never come. He found it better if he waited out here for Rudy instead of going into the mine and then being shocked at his arrival. There had been a couple of times where he had thought that it was someone else and he nearly attacked before realizing it was just Rudy. He would always apologize for it and Rudy would always forgive him, even if Biclops felt that he should do more to earn that forgiveness.

He had recently decided to try to be out more when he knew that Rudy was coming. The boy and his friends always came toward the entrance of the mine. A stark difference from past intruders who would try to get into the back. He used his height to his advantage and he would turn his head slowly from one side to the other, looking for any sign of Rudy or his friends.

So far, no sign of them. They probably won't be here until a while later. That was to be expected. Rudy did have school around this time. Sometimes he did try to get into ChalkZone early in the morning, if at all possible. There was the chance that he wouldn't make it in before he would be taken to school. Biclops decided to wait about twenty minutes just to be sure. If he did not see Rudy at any point in that time, it would be safe to assume he went to school and he can go back into the mine.

Biclops stood there for a few moments and waited. He occassionally looked around to look for any sign of Rudy or his friends. Left and right, his head turned, scanning the land to see any kind of movement. He jolted a little at the occassional movement, only to realize it was just another zoner, usually an animal one. There were some sentient zoners, mostly stick figures, but they weren't heading towards the mien. They were going off in other directions, probably going to work or going fishing or some kind of trip. Biclops gave out another yawn and continued to wait for Rudy.

When twenty minutes had passed and he saw that Rudy wasn't there, he decided it was best to head back inside. He can come out and wait later for the boy. He would most likely be in here during lunch time.

At the thought of that, he could feel his stomach start to growl. He reached down and rubbed his belly. He could feel the familiar sharp pangs of hunger pains. He flinched and gritted his teeth. He always hated this feeling. It made him feel like he wanted to throw up. He would never understand why hunger pains had to make one feel ill. Kind of counterproductive if the body wanted some food. He brushed the thoughts out of his head and he went back inside the cave.

He moved through the first room. A large room with lots of white magic chalk everywhere, hanging overhead like some kind of massive tree. The same room where he had first encountered Rudy and Snap. It sometimes brought back memories of that incident.

Sometimes, he would still feel washes of guilt at the memory of his actions back then. He had tried to hurt Rudy, who was just a child. Granted, he had a good reason. Creators before just weren't trustworthy, nor did they listen to reason. They thought that just because they had the magic chalk, they could do whatever they wanted. He didn't recall any of them having much of a shred of remorse. They did not understand the power that they had possessed, nor did they accept the responsibility that came with that.

Still, he could have been a bit more careful. Rudy was just a small child who couldn't possibly have known the horrors that the other kid creators had put ChalkZone through. What he had shown him was just the tip of the iceberg. There were things they did that were so much worse... And Rudy was not a part of it at all, and yet he still tried to attack him. If he had hurt Rudy back then, wouldn't that make him just as bad as the creators he had despised so much?

Biclops did his best to shrug it off. There was no use in crying over spilt milk. It was done and over, and he had become friends with Rudy. The boy did not hold his actions against him, and they had moved on from the incident. Besides, he had good reason to act the way he did. How could he have known that Rudy would turn out to be an honest to gawd good creator? No one in ChalkZone could have ever predicted that.

Biclops continued to walk down the lit tunnels, soon branching off to the left as he entered another large room. It was an open area devoid of most stalagmites and stalacties. He had cleaned them out himself to make it look more presentable. He didn't build the mine; he had to dig out rooms and tunnels himself to make it feel more like home. It had been years since he had claimed this mine as his home, but it didn't take him long to get settled in.

It didn't take him long to reach the kitchen. It was settled in a groove in the mine, and there was a small entrance into it. Well small to him anyway. Any small zoner could get in easily. He moved between the grooves and entered the small kitchen he had dug out for himself. He looked around and soon he found the fridge. He went over and opened it up.

The sight of large bacon and eggs greeted him. They were just the right size for someone as big as he was. He had to special order them from a specific place in ChalkZone, which happened to be pretty far from here. But it was well worth it. His nostrils filled with the delicious smell of the uncooked bacon and he could feel his mouth begin to water. Breakfast, here he comes.

sss

Rudy couldn't believe what an idiot he was. He thought he would have learned his lesson before, with the incident with Reggie, but it seemed that some things just don't ever change. He knows how important it is to keep on top of how much chalk he had left, and he still found himself neglecting it. Oh Penny was going to be so mad at him.

He wanted to hit himself in the face for not going into ChalkZone when he had the chance. There was a delay. He had time. He could have used that extra twenty minutes or so to head into ChalkZone, visit Biclops, and get more chalk. Instead, he was too busy focusing on getting ready and he wasted that time he had working on some Real World pictures. Mostly on a new painting, even though he could just wait until he got home before he did that.

Now he was stuck with one tiny piece of magic chalk. He had no others. He wasn't sure if Penny had anymore. She might. He hoped she did; if something happened to this chalk, then he was going to be trapped outside of ChalkZone permanently. The thought filled him with dread. He shivered at the cold, burning feeling.

He was nervous about asking Penny if she still had some magic chalk with her. She was going to wonder why he was asking and then he was going to have to confess that he forgot to keep track again. And he knew that she was going to scold him about it. He remembered the last time he had let the chalk run this low, and the situation they nearly got..no, he nearly got them into.

He had a small piece of chalk just like the one he was holding right now. It might have been a little bigger, but not by much. He had tried to open up a portal out in the open, despite Penny's warning, and Reggie had taken the chalk from him. He and Penny tried to stop him, but Reggie was too fast, despite his hefty size, and he had crushed the chalk into the ground. The only reason they weren't locked out of ChalkZone was because it created a small portal into ChalkZone.

He would rather not think of the crazy stuff that happened after that to get Reggie out and more magic chalk, or how close they had come to losing access to that world forever. He was just glad that they had managed to get what they needed, and he had vowed to be more careful from that point on.

What a bunch of bullcrap...

He still kept on neglecting it. He didn't mean to. He wanted to try to change, but habits die hard, and he still found himself waiting until he was low before he got more. He really needed to break himself of this habit and visit the Chalk Mine more.

Well, at least in a couple hours, it would be recess, and he and Penny would be able to slip into ChalkZone real quick and grab what they needed. And this time, he would make sure to do it somewhere that wasn't out in the open. He didn't want a repeat of the incident with Reggie. He wasn't sure if he or Penny would be able to pull it off a second time around.

Then again, it wasn't like Reggie would try again. He was a little shaken up from what happened to him. He wasn't hurt, but having his leg stuck, and Snap doing all those things to him and Reggie not knowing what was going on... Yeah he could see why he would be so frightened. Reggie didn't even try to take his chalk away again after that. He probably thought that he was going to get himself trapped again.

Still, it was better safe than sorry. Better to do it in a hidden place, away from anyone else. It would be a quick trip. Just in and out, and then erase the portal before anyone saw them. Then he would try harder to keep up with this next time.

He was still nervous about telling Penny what he did. He had promised her last time that he would keep a better eye on the amount of chalk that he had. She was going to be so disappointed in him. He could already hear her speak to him. But he couldn't lie to her. That would be wrong. There were times when dishonesty helps, and this was not one of them. He would potentially cause more damage lying about this than just admitting the truth.

Besides, Penny would be far less angry with him if he were honest and upfront about it, than to wait, and then something happens, and she finds out then. Better to just confess and get it over with.

He flinched a little as the car turned unexpectantly, most likely to avoid a pot hole that they didn't see coming. He looked out the car window. He couldn't see anything, but he assumed that's what it was. He returned to his original position, placing his hands on his lap as he waited patiently for Mrs. Sanchez to take him and Penny to school.

Penny was positioned in the front seat. She was silent, waiting for her mother to drop her and him off at school. He would have tried to confess to her before about what he did, but her mother had come in too fast and it was just too much of a risk to say anything. So he had to keep himself silent, and he would need to wait until they were at school. He would just have to usher her away from the other students and tell her in a low voice, or send a note to her or something, so that she knew of the situation.

The car soon started to come to a halt. He felt the swerving of the car as it bent inwards, going into the parking lot. He could hear a bit of crunching of rocks, and then the smooth concrete as the tires graced over them. Mrs. Sanchez made a sharp turn to the left and pulled into the parking lot. She shifted gears and put it in park.

At first, Rudy was confused as Mrs. Sanchez got out along with Peny. Then he remembered that she had agreed to go to their classroom as Mr. Wilter wanted to do a class on animal care. He wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe the guy didn't think that the students were responsible enough to take care of pets. The fact that he had left the hamster at school when he was supposed to take care of it during the weekend certainly didn't help things.

But this was going to cause some problems. How was he going to get the information to Penny without her mom overhearing what he had to say? He better think of something fast, or he was going to wind up in a lot of trouble later.

"You two head inside." Mrs. Sanchez said as she turned around and headed back to the car. "I need to prepare some stuff for the class. Tell Mr. Wilter I will be in as scheduled."

"Okay, mom!" Penny called out as she joined Rudy at his side. "Rudy and I look forward to seeing your work!"

Rudy let out a sigh of relief. So he did have some time to speak to Penny after all. Talk about a miracle. He couldn't believe the stroke of luck that hit him just then. He would need to take advantage of this. He waved goodbye to Mrs. Sanchez and he and Penny began to advance towards the school.

He stayed close to her, keeping his gaze away from her. He concentrated on what was in front of him. It seemed all of the other students had arrived. Likely in their classrooms with their teachers talking. He and Penny had their notes ready, in their backpacks, so their teachers know why they were so late. He waited until they were a certain distance away from Penny's mom before he attempted to speak to her.

"Hey, Penny...?" Rudy said, a slight hesitation to his voice.

Penny turned to look at him. "What is it, Rudy?" She noticed his nervous expression. Her eyes widened a little. "Hey..is everything all right?"

Rudy was about to answer 'yes', but he soon stifled himself. He bit his lip as he looked over at her. His facial expression was filled with a level of guilt. Penny recognized that look, and he noticed the slight frown in her face. She didn't attempt to scold or accuse him. She simply waited for him to speak and confess what he did.

"You see..I..." Rudy stammered.

"Yes...?" Penny said, her eyes frowning a little deeper. "What did you need to tell me, Rudy?"

Rudy clenched his teeth and tapped his flattened hands against the tips of one another. He looked left and right, trying to think of how he was going to word it. Maybe there was a way he could say it that would make Penny less angry and...

No, there was no other way to say it. No matter how he tried to say it, the reaction was going to be the same. He might as well get it over with now. He had time. It would be too difficult to tell her later. He should get it out of the way now before they entered the door to the building, which were fast approaching.

He gulped as he looked at Penny in the eyes, and soon he managed to speak. "I...I kind of...sort of..." His voice trailed off. Dang, this was harder than he thought it was going to be. But he couldn't give up now. He had to tell her. He opened his mouth to speak again, but to his surprise, she cut him off before he could make the second attempt.

"You forgot to stock up on magic chalk again, didn't you?"

Rudy stared at her in shock, his eyes widened. "H-How did you know?"

Penny gave him a wry smile, raising an eyebrow up. "I can read you like a book, Rudy." She paused for a moment, and then she sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe you forgot again." She looked like she wanted to slap herself in the face. "This is what... the tenth time you did this?"

"Fifth." Rudy corrected her. He flinched at her glare and he lowered his head. "Yeah, I know.. I promise I'll try harder to..."

Penny growled, "You've been saying that every time, Rudy! The first and second time, okay I understand. But then a third, fourth..and now a fifth..." She used her fingers to count, pressing her pointer against the digits of her other hand. "This is getting ridiculous Rudy! One of these days, this is going to bite you in the..."

"Yeah, I get it." Rudy said quickly before she could finish that unpleasant sentence. "I know I keep promising and I keep failing. I just..." He let out a sigh. He knew that a promise wasn't going to work this time. He needed to do better this time. He looked at Penny right in the eyes. He blew out a long breath. "I will change."

Penny cocked an eyebrow. She didn't look like she believed him. And why would she? He had screwed up multiple times. She must be getting tired of hearing him say he would change and not doing it. She let out a sigh and looked away. It was clear she was not in the mood to argue or scold him.

"..Alright, Rudy. I believe you." From the tone of her voice, it was hard to tell if she really did or not. "Just...be more careful, okay?"

Rudy looked at her sadly. He didn't like making her upset or worrying her like this. He knew that the only reason she seemed upset was the danger of losing the magic chalk. If they were to get trapped outside of ChalkZone... He shuddered to think what Skrawl would do. That jellybean managed to hypnotize so many zoners with a creation of his, that he himself had built. There's no telling what he would do if given enough time with little opposition.

As they approached the doors, Rudy found himself looping his arm around Penny and pulling her a bit close. He was careful not to trip over her feet or cause her to fall. She gave a small jerk of surprise as she wasn't expecting this gesture. She soon settled down, giving Rudy a slightly confused look.

Rudy soon spoke the words that he wished he had said before. "Will you...help me...?"

Penny immediately stopped walking. Rudy nearly stumbled as he halted himself, not expecting Penny to just stop like that. He looked at her in confusion, wondering why she did this. Was it something he said? Did he upset her again? Why was she looking at him like that?

After a few moments, Penny gave him a soft smile. She reached over and placed her hand gently on his shoulder. Rudy found comfort in this action and his tense body relaxed.

"Of course, Rudy." Penny whispered softly. "Why didn't you ask me before?"

"I-I don't know..." Admitted Rudy. He rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I should have said something before all this happened..."

Penny nodded her head. "Yeah, you should have." Rudy flinched at the tone of her voice. She soon smiled again. "But the important thing is that you are trying now. And that's all I can ask from you." Penny leaned forward and pressed her forehead against him. "Don't worry. I'll be glad to help."

Rudy smiled at this. He wanted to say something else when he heard the school bell ring, signaling the end of the first class. He flinched at this as he turned his head towards the school. Mr. Wilter certainly wasn't going to be happy, excuse or no excuse. He turned back to Penny and said, "I think we better go in there before Mr. Wilter starts the next class."

Penny nodded her head. "Agreed." She gave a small, sly smile. "We wouldn't want to 'surprise' him like we did last time."

Rudy couldn't help but chuckle at this. He remembered the last time he and Penny were late for class. They had apparently been so quiet that when they opened up the door, they nearly gave Mr. Wilter a heart attack because he wasn't expecting it. Add to that the fact that the door hit against his toe and stubbed it. The trip to the principal's office was almost worth seeing that comical reaction out of Mr. Wilter. With all the anti-art comments he tends to make, he had a little bit of karma waiting for him.

Soon they stood right in front of the door. They paused and looked at it. They gave each other a look and nodded slowly. They should really head in now before they give Mr. Wilter something new to freak out about. If there was one thing he hated more than art, it was students who were very late to class. They walked into the door and headed down the hallway.

sss

Skrawl stayed behind the large rock wall that surrounded the edge of the crater. It stretched for a couple miles around. From way up here, he could look out in the distance and see the buildings below in their entirety. He couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by the shere size of this place. Well Snap did mention that this was where some of the most dangerous creatures in ChalkZone were held, but he never imagined it would be this large.

Or this well guarded. He took immediate notice of all the guards down below. They held large guns in their hands and wore armor. He guessed this was in case any of the creatures tried to escape. Good enough, but it also meant that it would be hard for him to get past. Challenging them to a fight was not something he would want to do. He needed to figure a way around them.

Getting down was going to be challenging enough. He looked over the edge and saw how the wall slanted downward, curving slightly when it reached the bottom. He had seen this feature before. It was to create a slippery slope to make it difficult for creatures to climb out. A straight wall would work better, he would think, but he wasn't going to judge them. He was certain they had other ways of keeping the creatures inside. If this place was meant to keep dangerous creatures in, then there were likely booby traps in various locations.

Skrawl gritted his teeth. He wondered how he was going to get the memotrice out of here if there were booby traps and guards everywhere. Perhaps if he could figure out a way to make them leave...

A smile stretched along his face. Ah... That's it. He knew exactly what he could do. But first, he would need to get down there. He took a moment to peer over the edge of the wall again, taking care to make sure that the guards did not spot him. He looked out ahead and studied his surroundings.

There were a couple of large buildings, a detail he took notice of earlier. They appeared large, long, and single level with tall roofs, likely to house even bigger creatures. They were located in the center of a large circle, and the sparks he could detect must be indicative of an electric fence surrounding it. This took up most of the crater.

Then right outside of that, he could see a moat of some kind. Pretty cliche, but affective, at least for the non-flying zoners. He hadn't seen it in action yet, and likely never will. He didn't know what kind of creatures could be lurking in that water. He would have to find out on his own, and take care not to get himself caught. A part of him wished he had brought along his Beanie Boys, but he feared their noise would draw attention to him.

Outside of the moat, there were some tall rock structures. They did not seem to serve any purpose. They were just natural formations that they didn't bother cleaning up for the construction of this prison. He could use them for cover.

Skrawl looked out at the guards again before he looked over the edge. He pushed his body over a little, reaching out with his hands and pressing his claws against the smooth wall. He couldn't push his claws into the wall. Hmm... How was he going to do this? Without traction, he could easily slip down quickly and get himself hurt. There had to be another way down. If he could just..

Skrawl looked over and noticed someone was coming. He pressed himself in against the wall, trying to keep himself hidden in the shadows even though he was as exposed as anything else. He was lucky that the zoner in question looked to be in too big a hurry to really stop and notice him. The zoner appeared to work at that place. He had a warden's outfit on and everything. And judging from how he kept looking at what he guessed was a watch, he must be running late for his shift.

Skrawl paused for a moment and stared at him. Hmm... This zoner did kind of look like him. Okay not exactly. If one put them side by side, they could easily tell them apart. But his body shape was a little similar to his. This zoner resembled a green potato, and even had a thinner body in the back end, matching his own. Not a total match, but if he were to obscure his face and figure out a way of explaining why he has only three limbs instead of four, he might be able to pull this off.

The jellybean smiled at this as he quickly formulated a plan in his head. He moved slowly behind the zoner, watching him carefully. He looked around to make sure that no one else was looking. Thankfully, this zoner appeared to be alone, and he still hadn't taken notice of him. He could hear the tell tale signs of the zoner beginning to dial a number. Skrawl took advantage of this distraction and he launched himself towards the zoner.

"Hello..."

The zoner was silenced as Skrawl pushed him into the ground. The zoner struggled to get himself free. Skrawl immediately put his hand over his mouth to silence him.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" The zoner on the other line said, their voice filled with confusion.

The warden zoner attempted to call out for help, but Skrawl kept him silenced. He used his greater strength to pin the zoner down, pressing his body against him, his mismatched eyes glaring into his soul. He used his remaining limb to grab his arm and pin it down. He could feel the zoner squirming underneath him as he tried to free himself. He let out a series of confused and frightened muffles as he stared at him.

The look in his eyes suggested that this zoner might not be aware of him. Understandable. He might travel around a lot for his schemes, but it would be unlikely that all the zoners knew who he was. Despite that, he did feel a level of offense that this zoner did not know his name. Well that was something that he was going to learn fast.

"I see you don't know who I am. Well I could explain it to you all day long if I wanted, but I am a hurry. So I will give the short version." Skrawl said with a low growl. "I am Skrawl, the future ruler of ChalkZone! And you, my fine little starchy friend, will never forget that." The potato zoner gave a few confused muffles as he squirmed underneath him. "Well, hard to forget a fact like that when you only have about a minute left..."

The potato zoner let out a muffled scream at this, quickly piecing together what Skrawl had meant by that. Skrawl's mouth spread a twisted smile as he watched the zoner violently squirm, trying to get away. He gripped him tighter, pressing his claws against his arm. Realizing that he could not release him without allowing him room to manuever or scream, he used the one thing that was still available.

His mouth.

The idea of sinking his teeth in another zoner's throat did make him feel a little queasy, but it was the only thing he could do. Keeping the zoner as still as he could, he opened his mouth really wide. The zoner's throat was an easy fit as he set his jaws around it. Then he applied pressure.

Skrawl tried his best not to throw up as he felt the zoner's blood enter his mouth. Such a foul taste it had, but still he kept biting the neck. The zoner was quiet annoying with his muffled screams of pain, and even after he couldn't scream, the struggles were becoming difficult to control. The whimpering got on his nerves, and he tried his best to ignore it. He focused on biting through the neck, working his strong jaws to push his teeth through the flesh.

All the while, the zoner kept whimpering loudly, trying to push against him. He kept jerking from side to side, his legs kicking out wildly. A few times, he managed to hit him, causing him to grunt and falter for a second. Skrawl managed to regain his disposition quickly and snarled angrily at the zoner, prompting him to bite harder. This only caused the zoner to struggle more frantically, desperate to get free. He could see his eyes bulging, his mouth open to try to breathe, the blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth, intermingling with the fresh tears that were on his face. The increased struggling became a nuisance to him, but at least it would be over in a few seconds.

Tightening his jaws around his throat, feeling his teeth sunk in as far as they could go, Skrawl wrenched his head swiftly to one side. This act tore a large chunk of meat out of the zoner's throat. Blood immediately gushed out of the wound as Skrawl let to and moved back. Skrawl kept his distance so that he wouldn't get too much more blood on him.

He watched as the zoner spasmed and thrashed on the ground. With his vocal cords and wind pipe torn, it was hard for him to make too much loud noise. Some wet gasps and faint cries, but that was about it. He turned his body around from side to side, his hands going up to his throat to try to stop the bleeding, but to no avail. It took only seconds for the zoner to bleed out enough to lose consciousness. Death followed soon after, and the horrific yet satisfying agonal breathing could be heard, signifying the death of the zoner. His eyes remained open, glassed over by a fog-like substance.

Skrawl took a step forward, but stopped himself when he noticed how the zoner was starting to thrash again. He bit his lip. How was the zoner still alive? That bite should have killed him. Perhaps he didn't bite hard enough?

No, wait. The zoner was dead. He was just going through his death throes. The almost unnatural twitching and spasming spread through his body. Despite his villainous nature, even he was a bit unnerved by this sight. He could not avert his eyes, however, and he kept watching, almost out of morbid curiosity, as the zoner's body released its final tensions in death. Only after the spasming was over did he approach the body.

Although the zoner hadn't been dead for long, Skrawl could have sworn he started to detect the scent of death on him. Nauseating. He waved his hand in front of his nose to try to move it away from him. He was going to need to hurry up and do this before he wasted too much time.

Skrawl went to work undressing the zoner. He removed his uniform with some difficulty, slipping it off his body and arms. He yanked down his uniform pants along with it. He dropped them in a pile next to him. He looked down at the now half naked zoner, his thin shirt and underwear being the last things on him. As he stared at him, he realized that someone might come this way and find this gruesome sight. He was going to need to hide the body.

He looked around, and he soon saw an indention in the ground nearby. He dragged the corpse over there. He used his claws to dig a deeper hole. Not an easy task with long, thin claws like this. It took him what felt like forever before he could get it deep enough. He thrusted the body in there, making sure he was nice and secure. He pushed him in as far as he could go. Then he started to push the dirt over his body, covering it in a thin layer of dirt. He smoothed it out a little and patted it, making sure that the dirt pile was nice, thick, and firm.

It wasn't the best burial, and normally he would think better about this. He could think of better ways to dispose of the body. But right now, he just didn't have time. This would do for now. The fact that not many zoners come here anyway was a comfort.

Turning his attention to the clothes, he walked over towards them. Grabbing them one by one, he slipped them on. First the shirt, then the pants. They weren't a perfect fit, which didn't surprise him. A little loose in some places, and a little tight on others. Nonetheless, it still fit him well enough. But whether or not he could fool the other guards was a different story. Well, he supposed now was a good time as any to test that out.

Before he could get too far, he heard a call from the phone on the ground. He stared at it in confusion. He had almost forgotten about that cellphone from before. His eyes widened. What if the person on the other line had heard the commotion? What would he do then?

"Hello? Ucto? You still there, buddy? Please, answer me..." The voice whispered. "What's going on...?"

Skrawl gritted his teeth. If he allowed that zoner to believe that something happened, there would be an investigation sent up here. While he expected them to figure out something was wrong, he would rather they do it after he had already obtained what he wanted. He needed to think of something fast.

He grabbed the phone and lifted it up. He paused for a moment, realizing that he didn't get to hear the zoner speak too long to know what he had sounded like. It was too late for him to ask. He was just going to have to wing it. Clearing his throat, he spoke.

"Everything is all right. I'm fine."

There was a pause. "Is that really you, Ucto? You don't...sound right."

"I don't? Well that's because I just had surgery done on my throat. The doctor said I would sound funny for a while." Skrawl hoped that the zoner would buy that little lie. If he didn't, well he was infamous for being able to slip out of zoners' grasps.

After a few moments, the zoner on the other line said, "...okay, if you say so. I'm sorry to hear about the surgery." A pause, and a quick suck of breath. "Why didn't you tell me about the throat issues, Ucto? I could have..."

"I just couldn't." Skrawl said quickly. He realized he sounded a little too harsh, and he cleared his throat again. "I mean...I didn't want to worry you."

A sigh. "Well okay then..." The zoner on the other line paused for a few moments. Skrawl detected scratching and he guessed the zoner was rubbing the back of his head. "Well come on in. The others are waiting for you."

"I will be there." Skrawl said. "Don't worry." With that, he quickly hung up before the zoner had a chance to reply. He growled softly as he stared down at the building below. Thoughts began to race through his mind.

He was in quite a situation right now. He did figure out a way in. He noticed where the warden zoner was going. There was a lever sticking out of the ground. He guessed that if he pulled it, it would reveal a hidden tunnel or lower him or something. Not only did he know where to go, but he also had an outfit on as well to help himself blend in.

But there was still a problem. How was he going to fool them all into thinking that he was Ucto? It was one thing to fool them verbally, using the phone. But once they see him...

How was he going to pull this off? How was he going to keep his cover long enough to grab the memotrice? How would he sneak passed all those guards without drawing attention to himself? There had to be something that he could do to give him some time. Something that would deter them from asking questions or getting in his way. He had come so far now. He was not going to give up. All he had to do was find a way to look the part and...

Suddenly, the jellybean zoner looked over and stared at the corpse on the ground. Or rather, where it was buried. His mind raced with many thoughts as an idea popped up in his head. As soon as his mind fully registered it, a sweep of chilling nausea rushed through him.

He... He couldn't really do something like that, could he? Sure he was quite a vile villian, and he was proud of it. But even he had to second guess this. Something about it just felt...so sick and wrong. He didn't want to demean himself that fear. It was just... How could anyone be sick enough to do something like that?

Yet..it wasn't like he had much of a choice. He needed a way to look visually enough like the potato zoner, and what better way than...

Skrawl took in a deep breath, mentally preparing himself. He glanced at where he had just buried the zoner. He bit his lip, his expression contorting in disgust and a tinge of regret. He soon began to walk over towards it. He might as well get this over with.


	3. Bloody Union

Skrawl resisted the urge to throw up as the horrible smell of death clung to him, swimming around him like he was some kind of attractive light. No matter how hard he tried to fight back against the smell, it continued to move through him, clinging to him and refusing to let him go. The sickening wetness against his body certainly didn't help things either.

Removing the skin of the zoner had been surprisingly much easier. Using his claws skillfully, he managed to peel off the skin, leaving it mostly in tact. So long as he was careful as he walked, it shouldn't tear.

But whether or not it remains in tact wasn't the only thing he had to be concerned about. It was not a perfect fit, something that did not surprise them since they were still two different zoners. Even if he did not tear the skin, there may still be enough differences that someone might notice. The lack of an arm was going to be a problem and he had yet figured out something for that.

The smell was his biggest concern. How was he going to hide this smell? It was so horrible... He had to put his hand against his mouth a few times, but that hardly did much, as that pressed the underside of the zoner's skin against his mouth, something that nearly caused him to lose it. He knew that he had to figure out a way, and fast, to disguise this smell.

The only thing he could think of is that he could claim that he had stumbled upon something horrible and the smell just stuck. Yeah, that could work. Not like he could think of anything else. So that plan would have to do.

He didn't want to waste more time. He did enough of that getting this full body suit on. He needed to get going now if he was going to get there without causing too much suspicion. He looked at where the lever was jetting out of the ground. He took in a deep breath and sighed, preparing himself. He held onto the cellphone the zoner had used, just in case they tried to call again.

He took only a few seconds to reach the lever. He grabbed onto it and he pulled it back. It was more difficult than he had imagined. It was stuck and he had to jerk it a few times to free it. There was a loud crack and then he was able to pull it downwards, which caused a slow creak sound despite how quickly he was moving it.

He stood there for a few moments and waited. So far, nothing happened. He narrowed his eyes and growled. Wasn't something supposed to happen? How long was he going to have to stand there before the lever activated? And just what was he waiting for?

A few moments later, he got his answer. There was a sudden, loud squeak and the ground around him began to shift. He wobbled to one side, holding out two limbs to regain his balance. He could see a bit of dust kick around him in a circle, and then he began to move.

The scratching of stone against stone filled his ears, sending a shiver through his body. He tried not to pay attention to it as the stone slab he was on began to sink down. The heat he felt before began to dissipate into cool air, the sunlight from the Day Zone sun vanishing as darkness crept up. After a few more moments, he was completely shrouded in darkness. He tensed up slightly and looked around.

The momentary darkness didn't last for long. A sudden bright flash of light got in his eyes. He hissed as he turned his head away, raising a hand up to block the light. He felt himself jerk as the rock slab came to a sudden stop, a loud crank sounding out. He kept his arm up for a few moments before he removed it to see where he was.

He could see that the stone had dropped him in front of an odd-shaped tunnel. A stretched oval, or egg, with a thin, almost sharply-tipped roof, with slightly rounded walls that opened up to a broader floor.

Somehow, the shape of the hallway, combined with the silver color, made him think of the Future Dome. He bit his lip at the memory of that. He formed a fist with his hand and shook it as a bout of anger washed through him. He still hadn't forgiven that stupid robot for ruining his plan. He had a thought of getting even with him, but he pushed that thought aside for now in favor of the now.

It did feel a little strange walking on this floor. So cold and slick. He constantly felt like he was stepping in water, or was going to trip and fall. He tried his best to keep his expressions minimal as he did not want to look suspicious. A pair of shows would have helped, but given his nature, he just could not wear those as he only had one true food.

Speaking of that, he needed to be prepared for the limb question. He had to make it look like he injured himself and was pressing his limb against himself. He also had to make sure he did not switch up his limbs. This was an urge that would be hard to fight as he was used to do this all the time. He had to keep only a right limb and keep his left limb firmly on the ground, no matter how much the temptation to use it rose up inside of him.

He reached the end of the hallway. He stopped and looked left and right. Which way should he go? He searched his memory and he was certain that going to the left was the best route. But this place was huge and likely had many tunnels to similar areas. Was there a better route to take?

He was about to left when he realized that he did have an option that would make this so much easier. If he could just get in contact with that one zoner...

He got out the phone and flipped it open. He navigated it easily with his claws. The buttons made loud clicks, irritating him each time, as he searched for recent calls. He soon found a number that appeared to be the most recent. He pressed on it and selected the enter button. He saw the screen go black and he saw the phone symbol. A loud ringing sound could be hard. He placed it against his ear and waited for the zoner to pick up.

A click. A clearing of the throat. Then came the voice. "Hello? What's wrong, Ucto? Why aren't you here yet?"

"Well I..." Skrawl licked his lips and stumbled over his words, deliberately giving off the feeling of nervousness and unease. "S-Something happened and I..." He paused for a few moments.

"What?" The zoner on the other end whispered. "What happened?"

Skrawl gave a shuddering breath. "I-I would rather discuss it there. Can you...give me the directions again?" He chatted his teeth. "I'm not well right now. I can't remember which way to go."

"Okay, I'll give you the directions again." The zoner paused. Then he said, "I hope I'll be able to help you."

"Thank you." Skrawl said, trying to sound as sincere as he could.

The zoner was likely giving a sympathetic smile at this. Skrawl was glad he could not see it. He waited for the zoner to give instructions.

"All you do after you get off the platform is take a left, head down five hallways, and then make a right. There will be a double door there that will lead you down a small corridor that will take you straight into the building." The zoner said.

Skrawl nodded his head, despite the zoner not being able to see it. "O-Okay. Thank you..."

"Take your time getting here. And whatever happened, I promise we'll get it sorted out, buddy."

Skrawl gave a relieved sigh at this. "Thank you... I'll be there shortly."

As soon as he shut the phone and heard the click, Skrawl let out a disgusted growl. He had to struggle to keep himself from crushing the phone in his hand. That was a rather disgusting display he had to put on. If he wasn't already fighting the urge due to the horrible smell, he would have vomited before the phone call was even finished.

The fact that he was going to have to put on another play in person, and not over the phone, was going to be even tougher for him. It was one thing to imitate the voice. But how was he going to keep himself from scowling or baring his teeth in disgust or anger?

Well he was going to have to think of how, and fast. He could not blow this up. If he got caught in here... Then he was never getting out. This place was just too well guarded. Once he got the memotrice, it should be smooth sailing from there.

He turned his head towards the left corridor. He stared at it for a few moments, then he began to walk down the hallway.

sss

"And that is how you are supposed to approach a new dog." Mrs. Sanchez said. "Before you go run up to a dog you think you like, get to know it first. And be calm; you do not want to scare the dog."

"Boring!" Reggie mumbled as he turned his head to the side.

"Reggie Bullnerd!" Mr. Wilter placed his hands on his desk roughly. "Be quiet and pay attention!"

Reggie growled softly. He forced himself to look over at where the woman was. "Yes, Mr. Wilter..."

Reggie caught the glare that Penny was giving him. He merely smirked at her before looking away. Normally he would try to make some kind of comment towards her, but right now, he just didn't feel like it.

When was this session going to be over? It felt like this lady had been here for a while now. Looking up at the clock, he was shocked to see that only twenty minutes had passed. Why did it feel so much longer? He wished that he could make time move much faster so he didn't have to sit through much more of this. This was an incredibly boring session. He didn't even know why Mr. Wilter bothered with this. He wasn't stupid.

Reggie wished that he was allowed to skip class and go do something else more worth while. What would he gave to gain from learning skills that he already knew? He did a good job of taking care of Dumpster. She turned out okay. But it seemed as if Mr. Wilter wanted him especially to pay attention.

Was this because of that stupid incident with the puppet back at the talent show? He wished the teacher would just get over it. It was just a dumb little joke. It wasn't his fault that Dumpster got a little too excited and ran. He did try to stop her, right?

Well, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to get away from this, so he might as well settle down and watch this stupid pet thing. Not like he could go anywhere. Besides, he was not interested in getting another detention. He had enough of those for the rest of the spring.

"Does anyone want to hold him?" Mrs. Sanchez lifted up the small, golden retriever puppy. Immediately a bunch of kids raised their hands, including Rudy and Penny, no surprise. "Okay then." Mrs. Sanchez chuckled. "One at a time..."

Reggie watched as the children gathered around the puppy. He was the only child to hold back. He wasn't particularly excite about petting a puppy. He did enough of that with Dumpster. He was more interested in hearing the bell ring so he could go outside and have some real fun. Like getting some lunch money from his 'friends' or something like that.

He didn't know how much time had passed since the kids started playing with the puppy. Despite Mr. Wilter's constant warnings, he could feel his mind wandering away very easily. His mind entered day dream land, and he became unaware of most of what was being said. A few comments of dog facts here or there, but not much else.

He was thankful that Mr. Wilter didn't say anything. The man must be too busy writing on the piece of paper to really notice. He wasn't well liked in the class, a fact that didn't bother him as it meant that most just left him alone. So no one came over and tried to get him to join. He found peace and solitude in his day dream, and it made this all the more tolerable.

Besides, Dumpster was far cuter and better behaved than that little mongrel the lady had brought in. He didn't know why the other students were getting all excited about it. Not like the puppy stage lasts forever and they are harder to control and maintain. At least Dumpster knows how to stay put.

Well, most of the time that is.

He resisted the urge to let out a sigh of relief when he heard the bell ring. The students around him groaned in disappointment. He could have sworn he heard the puppy whimpering in sadness, and he turned his head in time to see the puppy push against another student as they climbed up to their feet.

"All right, children. Time for recess!" Mr. Wilter got up out of his seat. He placed his hands together. "We will continue this session when we get back! There's plenty more for Dr. Sanchez here to tell us about taking care of a pet." The students expressed their excitement as Mr. Wilter turned to Penny's mother and said, "I want to thank you again for taking the time to come out here."

"It's no trouble. The more people know how to take care of pets, the less...let's say, trouble, we will see." Replied the woman as she picked up the puppy and placed him back in the crate. "Don't worry, children. I brought along a bunny and a kitten as well." At this, the student's eyes brightened. "You will get to play with them after you get back."

Reggie wanted to plug his ears when he heard the children scream in excitement. His eardrums echoed and he ended up having to rub them to try to get rid of at least some of the sound. He glared off at them as they began to race out to recess.

Finally, he could have some real fun. He was going to have to savior this moment. Recess was going to feel so much shorter today. He just knew that time was going to fly by a little too quickly.

However, his hope of having some fun was immediately dashed when he heard a voice call out to him.

"Reggie!"

The large child stopped in his tracks. He shut his eyes tightly and he let out a frustrated growl. He tried to calm himself quickly as he turned his head and looked over at the man. "Yes, Mr. Wilter?"

The teacher was glaring at him. A normal sight. One that he immediately recognized. He flinched slightly, expecting the teacher to give him another detention.

"Since you were so interested in class today..." Reggie knew immediately that the teacher was referring to him day dreaming. So he had noticed? "You will be cleaning up the chalkboard." He motioned towards the chalkboard behind him. "You may go out to recess after you are done."

Reggie watched as the other students rushed out to recess, soon leaving him alone with the teacher. He turned his gaze back to the chalkboard, noting all the writing and drawing that was on it. He gritted his teeth, but he could not express his anger that much with Mr. Wilter sitting at the desk.

"Okay, Mr. Wilter..." He grumbled softly as he approached the chalkboard and began to erase.

sss

"Phew..." Rudy wiped his brow as he and Penny managed to slip through the portal. "That was close!"

Penny nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Good thing they were all too busy talking about the puppy to notice us."

Rudy couldn't agree more. The students were all clamoring together, constantly talking about the dog that Penny's mom had brought in. That had made it easier, though still in ways, tricky, to slip away from them to get into ChalkZone. They would not notice they were gone. Not like they ever did.

But he still knew that staying away from the playground for too long was going to be a bad idea, especially with the students talking to each other about the puppy. They might try to talk to him or Penny, especially Penny since Mrs. Sanchez, or Dr. Sanchez as Mr. Wilter told the students, was her mom. They had to make this trip into ChalkZone swift. In and out.

"Hey Bucko! Buckette!"

The two children turned their heads towards that familiar voice. They watched as their blue clad friend raced towards them. Concern immediately washed over their faces when they saw that it wasn't the usual friendly smile they were used to when he came to greet them. They could tell taht something was really wrong.

It took only seconds for the panic-stricken zoner to reach them. He placed his hands on his thighs and he panted in front of them. Rudy and Penny glanced at each other. From the looks of things, he must have been running for a while. Just what happened that caused him to race all the way over here? Was it Skrawl? Was it another villain? Had there been a new dangerous creature erased into ChalkZone? The list of possibilities was quite long.

Rudy hoped that, whatever it was, it could be managed. He didn't want to have to spend too much time in ChalkZone today as he and Penny needed to get back. He hoped that, whatever had Snap upset, it was something that either could wait, or could be easily taken care of in a short amount of time. They were in a hurry, and they could not risk screwing this up and have people get suspicious.

"What is it, Snap?" Rudy said as he listened to his friend continue to pant.

"Yeah, it something wrong?" Penny held out her hand in gesture. "You look so...frightened."

"Yeah, I know. And for good reason." Snap opened his mouth and gave a few more heavy pants. "I-I recently did a report on the memotrice and..."

At this, Rudy furrowed his eyes in confusion. "Memotrice...?" He said carefully. Snap nodded his head. Rudy glanced over at Penny. She looked as confused as he did. He looked back at Snap. "What is...who is...a memotrice...?"

Snap took a few more moments to completely catch his breath. He stared at them, his eyes widened in horror and uncertainty. "It's a newly erased zoner that can.. that can..."

"That can what? Tell us, Snap!" Penny said quickly, her voice tinged in worry.

"It can alter memories!"

With that single utterance, the trio fell silent. They looked at each other, no one saying a word. An uncomfortable quietness settled upon them. A wave of horror and shock washed through the two children as they both began to fully comprehend what this means. The meaning of Snap's single, short, yet strong message was not lost on them. They glanced at each other, both their minds racing with thoughts.

A zoner that can alter memories... That was horrifying beyond comprehension. Rudy had seen many zoners with all sorts of powers. This was one of the worst he had ever heard. Sure, having the power to rip someone apart with psychic powers was a horrifying enough concept, but among one of the top horrors is losing one's mind. To lose their identity and who they were. A zoner who could alter memories could in theory alter that zoner's very personality and existence. They could make them forget who they were, alter their loyalties, make them believe things that they never would have before.

Rudy gave a shudder at this. He sometimes wondered what went through the minds of artists who would design and create such things. He knew they didn't know any better, but he still wished that they would at least try to draw some things that were nicer. What was wrong with something that was cute an innocent? Did all drawings need an overtone of violence or potential destruction?

He knew he couldn't just make people stop drawing such things, though. And plus they weren't always as they seemed. He remembered all too well when he tried to fix some other kids' drawings, and he had made huge mistake after huge mistake, and ended up having to fix the mess he made.

But there was no mistaking with this zoner. Someone had deliberately drawn a dangerous zoner One that could tear apart families and loved ones easily if it decided to use its powers for evil. Some kid, or adult, had thought this thing up and created it, and let it loose in ChalkZone. Now ChalkZone was going to have to live with this thing, whether they wanted to or not. Rudy was not one for violence or killing, but he had to wonder what he was going to do with the memotrice if he had to confront it. Would it afflict him, too? Did its powers work on humans? The thought filled him with dread.

"It's locked away, though." Snap said quickly.

"It has?" Penny asked. Upon Snap's nod, she let out a sigh of relief. "Well that's good."

"Yeah.." Rudy felt his legs feel wobbly. He tried his best not to collapse to the ground from the shere relief what washed through him. Then he realized something. "But wait... If it's locked up, then why are you panicked?"

"Because Biclops thought he saw Skrawl heading out towards where the memotrice is being held!" Snap cried out, raising his hands into the air. Rudy and Penny gasped in horror at this, their eyes bulging. "He wanted to speak to you two as soon as you were able to come!"

"Well... We can't stay long. The students will get suspicious..." Rudy began to say. He looked at Snap's frightened eyes. He bit his lip and he looked over at Penny, seeing her expression. He couldn't just leave, he knew. He had to at least spend some time here and talk to Biclopse. "We'll speak to Biclops."

Penny nodded in agreement. "We'll see if we can work something out. Rudy is right, however." She frowned slightly. "Rudy and I won't be able to stay here for too long. We only came in to get some chalk. We can spare some time to talk to Biclopse, but it has to be swift."

"We can talk more later after we get back from school." Rudy added.

Snap looked at them. He still had that frightened expression. It was clear that he was frightened by not only the memotrice, but also by what Skrawl might end up doing with it. Knowing Skrawl and his goal of taking over ChalkZone, it was a safe bet just what he was going to do with it. Rudy didn't want to think of the damage that zoner could use with the memotrice. He knew that, as soon as they were able, he and Penny had to go to the jail that the bird was being held in to prevent Skrawl from taking it.

Snap seemed to accept what they said, and he motioned them to follow him. Rudy and Penny looked at each other, expressions of determination on their faces. They gave each other a nod, and then they began to follow their friend as they headed towards the Chalk Mine.

sss

Reggie wiped his brow. Erasing and cleaning the chalkboard took a little longer than he thought. At least there was still some time left to enjoy recess. He could locate one of his favorite 'friends' and have a little fun with them before the bell rang.

"Okay, I'm done, Mr. Wilter!" Reggie began to move towards the door.

Mr. Wilter stopped him. "Not so fast, Reggie!" The boy stopped and resisted the urge to shout at his teacher. He looked over his shoulder and stared at him. "You still have one more thing to do!"

Reggie turned himself around to see what the grumpy old teacher was talking about. He soon took notice of the erasers that the man was holding in his arms. He carried them over towards the window sill and dropped them there. The man took a few steps back and then pointed at them. "Clean the erasers."

"Yes, Mr. Wilter." Reggie felt like a parrot. How many times did he say that already? Nonetheless, he did what he was told and approached the window.

He grabbed onto it and pushed it open. The warm breeze hit his face and the sound of laughing children filled the air. He glared down at them, baring his teeth. All of them were having fun but here he was, trapped in the classroom and cleaning the erasers. He didn't even use the chalkboard; why should he be the one to do this?

He grabbed two of them and pushed himself out of the window partway. He began to slam the erasers together. A white cloud of dust immediately popped out. He turned his head to avoid the chalk getting into his mouth or lungs. He kept hitting it, trying to get all the chalk dust out. He coughed and wheezed as some of it ended up getting in his throat.

At least this got easier as time went on. The dust levels rapidly began to shrink between these two until very little chalk dust was coming out. He slowed down the collisions, feeling the eraser was going to get as clean as it was going to get. Not like he could get all the chalk dust out. That would be insane.

He did this for more of the erasers. The process was the same. Cough and wheeze as he tried to get as much of the stinking chalk out as he could. Pair by pair, he dropped them in another pile on the window sill. This was moving by a little faster than he thought. Maybe he would get some recess time after all.

Soon he was down to just one more pair. One last two erasers before he was done. He grabbed them and he leaned out the window to prepare to strike them together. He was about to when something caught his attention.

A brief glow. An unexpected flash of white or golden or something. Despite it not being that bright, he still found himself raising an arm to shield his eyes. He then looked over and he saw Rudy and Penny moving out from behind the school. He stared at confusion for a few moments, watching as they appeared to be making sure the coast was clear, and then they walked completely out.

Reggie was confused by this. Why would Rudy and Penny act like that? He never saw them do something like that before. Then again, he was always so busy 'playing' with other students that it just never crossed his mind to really look.

He couldn't understand it. Those two were among the most goody two shoes in the entire school. What would they have to hide? Why did they think they were going to get into trouble? And what was with that glow?

He narrowed his eyes as he watched them move towards the bench situated along the edge of the playground. He was going get the bottom of this, one way or another. He resumed smashing the final erasers together as he stared intently at where Rudy and Penny were sitting.

sss

"Are you sure you will be all right?" The zoner asked, his eyes furrowed with concern. "It sounds like you went through hell."

"No, no.. I'll be fine..." Skrawl said, raising his hand up and waving it dismissively. "I just...needed to get back to work. Get my mind off of it, you know?"

The zoner frowned slightly at this. "Strange... Normally you go eat some chocolate pudding when you feel really stressed..."

Skrawl tried not to gulp as he heard the zoner say that. Had he already screwed up? He remained frozen where he was, watching the zoner carefully as he waited for his next words. He tried his best not to look too startled or upset by his words. He couldn't allow the zoner to know that something really was wrong with him. Namely, that he wasn't Ucto.

"Well, I can't hold it against ya. What happened to you was far worse than most other things." The zoner finally said. His frown disappeared, replaced with a more sympathetic expression. He reached over and touched him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We can get the Great Creator and his friends look at your arm. Maybe they might be able to fix it?"

Skrawl felt his blood flash hot briefly at this statement. It took all of his strength to control his facial expression. As much as he woud love to scowl and swat the zoner's hand away, he knew that wouldn't be a very good idea. He forced himself to smile and lightly pressed his hand on his outstretched arm. "That...would be wonderful. Thanks."

The zoner smiled in return. "I'll send word out for them now and..."

"Wait!" Skrawl cried out. This startled the zoner, who stared at him with wide eyes. Skrawl cleared his throat, rapidly backtracking. "I wouldn't want to bother them right now. Isn't time for them to return to school?"

"Oh yeah..I forgot about that. Good call, Ucto!" The zoner said, his eyes briefly wide. "I'll get in contact with them after they return then. Later tonight?"

Skrawl thought about this for a few moments. Would that give him enough time? He would think so. He was in the facility and all he had to do was break the creature out and take off with it. If he planned this perfectly, this should be easily pulled off. He just had to keep wearing this stinkin' 'outfit' for a while longer, then he could make his move.

If he remembered right, this zoner did say the memotrice's chamber wasn't far from here. It had to be relocated again. He wasn't sure what the reason was. He guessed that the creature's mind effects went straight through building material. The guards were fine so long as they wear the helmets, the same type that he was currently wearing. Hard, tall, ridged edges, a pointed tip, and made out of some kind of thick material the memotrice's powers could not permeate. He sure hoped it worked, but the only way to find out was to test it.

Since he knew the location, it was just a matter of time of getting there. That shouldn't take too long. No one was going to question him going there. Apparently it was Ucto's job, the most recent one, to check periodically on the memotrice. So he should be able to slip past the others without a problem.

"That will be good." Skrawl finally said after a few moments of silence. "Thank you."

The zoner smiled back at him. He patted him gently on the arm a couple of times. He bit his lip and paused for a moment. Then he said, "..take care of yourself, buddy."

"I will." Skrawl said. He smiled as the zoner turned and left him be. Only when the zoner was out of his sight that he brushed his arm off in disgust. "Yeah and I hope you can do the same, for your sake.." He muttered under his breath. He brushed off his disgust and returned to the task at hand.

He looked at his surroundings. He was located in a pentagon-shaped room, the edges a little smoothed out to make it look almost like a circle. There were three massive hallways. The middle was the one he had initially come from, so he knew that wasn't the right way to go. He looked at the other two corridors. They looked mostly the same, both diagonal, but the direction they went in was different, and he knew one of them was the right way to go, and the other would take him to the wrong section.

Behind him, hooked up on the white carved wall, was a large frame with a map situated in its center. The red dot indicated his present location. He took a few steps towards this map and narrowed his eyes, staring at it. He scanned his eyes around it as he tried to figure out the best path to take to reach the memotrice. The location of the memotrice was apparent. It was scribbled around with red marker with the words 'new location' written on it, and the letters M and T. Memotrice.

He pressed his claw against that location. It definitely wasn't far from here. According to the legend on the map, it should only be about twenty feet away. He moved his claw around the hallways to try to see if he could locate the exact path to take. It took him a few moments, but he soon registered the exact, quickest path to get there.

He turned his head towards the right corridor. This should be the right one. He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. He had to keep himself calm. No getting excited or angry. No shoving people around or telling them to get out of his way. He was able to fool them so far with this stupid disguise, especially with the lie he had come up with. He needed to keep this up. All it would take was one slip up and he would be found out.

He started to make his way down the corridor. He moved slowly, acting as if he were on duty. He kept his eyes slightly narrowed, and tried to make himself look worried or apprehensive. This was how the zoners here would expect him to look if he really were Ucto getting ready to check on a dangerous creature. And sure enough it was working; the few zoners he passed all muttered expressions of concern and wished him luck. He smiled inwardly.

As he continued on, he couldn't help but give some admiration to the person who designed this place. The walls were made out of hard material. He couldn't tell what it was. Marble or diamond maybe? He'd have to ask someone where. But it was clear that these hallways had to be cut into. A painstaking process to get it looking like this. Seeing how large this building was and all the rooms that laid within it, he could only imagine how long it must have taken to create such a thing. That is, if these zoners made it themselves, or if Master Tabootie had been the one to do it.

Either way, it was still pretty impressive. Skrawl looked around as he headed down the sharp-roofed hallway, looking at the different decorations that laid about this place. Flags, some small statues, but mostly frames. They were all pretty, most of them dealing with some form of nature, like a picture of a forest or something. He guessed that these were here primarily to try to keep the workers calm. Understandable, considering what they had to do.

Up ahead, he could see a tall, white marble water fountain. It rose up near the ceiling. He took note of its construction. Some kind of snake crawling up a stick, its mouth split wide open. He could see the sharp fangs curling upwards. It was from these fangs that water sprouted out, raining down and moving along the creature's form. There was a wide, curved bowl at the bottom where the water collected. The humanoid tiger zoner lapping away at the bowl indicated that this water was safe to drink.

Moving on, Skrawl walked away from the water fountain, giving only a partial response when the tiger zoner tried to greet him. Skrawl soon ended up in a small rounded room, similar to where he was before. But this time, there were about five hallways that branched from here. A difficult design he could imagine. He shrugged off his awe as he looked at the signs hanging over, trying to locate one in particular.

He soon found the sign that said 'MT' written on it. He gave a small smile at this. This really hadn't taken long at all. He looked left and right to see if anyone was watching. There was no one. Even the tiger zoner had left, likely returning to whatever job he had. He walked into the small hallway.

This hallway was a little dark, making him wonder if there was a reason for it. It was still lit enough that he could see, but it felt so much darker, the lights barely half the strength of the lights that came before. There were a few occassions where he found himself hitting against the wall because it was harder to see. He winced when he felt a rip, realizing that his outfit was going to be ruined by the time he got there.

But at least he took care of the hard part first. All he had to do was reach the memotrice and that was it. Well not completely. He would need to align with it first, which shouldn't be hard. He was certain that bird reptile thing would want to get back at the zoners here for locking it inside.

He kept on walking slowly until he noticed an opening ahead. The light there was a tiny bit brighter, much to his relief. He paused for a moment as he was about to reach it. He could feel his heart racing in his chest. This was it. This was the moment he had waited for. He took in a deep breath and he entered the room.

The room itself was a little underwhelming. It was a tall, round, cylinder-shaped room with nothing it except the cage and a raised platform, a couple circular rings making it look a bit segmented, reminding him of an insect. There were a ring of lights around here, and something a little brighter above it, shining down on it. He wondered if this was weakening the creature's power. He would find out soon enough.

The cage looked like a bird cage. Very similar in shape, complete with a pointed tip and a latch-style lock. The bars were a little thin, but he could see that it was also covered in a thin, clear yet strong material that prevented it from clawing its way out. There were some kind of green rings wrapped around it as well, and he guessed that these further helped kept it trapped. This made him wonder just how strong this thing was.

There, sitting on the hanging perch in the center, was the memotrice itself. Its wicked-looking talons were wrapped around the cylinder piece of wood in a rather delicate manner, keeping itself from falling down. Its rooster-like head was lowered, pressed against itself and looking all fluffy. Its eyes were closed softly, and only a few twitches indicated that it was still alive.

Skrawl spent a few moments staring at the memotrice. Like this, it didn't look like it was too tough of a creature. It just looked too cute, like it was some kind of plushie that someone left behind. But he knew better. He remembered the reports. He approached with caution.

Despite his best efforts, his foot clanged against the ground, creating a scrape loud enough for the creature to hear. Its eyes immediately opened up, the brown eyes blazing, the slit pupils staring at him intently. Skrawl immediately froze at this, bitinig his lip slightly as he stared at the memotrice in silence, unable to look away.

Skrawl took in a few breaths, trying his best to keep himself calm. The creature could not do anything to him so long as it was trapped and he wore the helmet. If the creature could change his memory, it would have done so by now. But he felt nothing. His mind was fine. He allowed the brief wave of relief move through him before he took a step forward. He watched as the memotrice opened its mouth, allowing him to see the small yet sharp teeth that lined its beak.

He wasn't sure if this creature could understand what he was saying. But he knew he had to give it a try. He cleared his throat and started to talk.

"Hello there, memotrice. My name is Skrawl." He placed his hand against himself. "Oh I know I look like a guard, but this is just a skin." He stretched the skin around his head, showing part of his true face to the creature. The memotrice tilted its head to one side. "I have come to rescue you." He gave a smile as he watched the red creature. "Now I know what you are thinking... Why would I rescue you? Well my fine feathered..." He paused for a moment. "And scaled friend, I believe we can benefit one another."

He approached the cage slowly, his smile spreading slightly as he got closer. He stood directly in front of the cage. The memotrice just looked at him, its eyes regarding him with curiosity. He couldn't tell if this meant the creature could understand him or if it was just puzzled by his actions.

"I offer you a deal, memotrice. You see, I could let you out of that filthy cage. I could give you freedom again." He held out his hand, his claws curving inward. "But only if you help me take over ChalkZone. I would have done so already, but I have some annoying..pests on my trail. I need for a way to stop them, and you can provide that." He turned himself to the side, folding his arm behind his back. He lifted his head up and looked towards the ceiling. "I'm sure you would love to be free, right? Not trapped like a wild animal?" He looked over at the memotrice. "Wouldn't you want to get back at those guards who tried to control you? Who trapped you in there like it was nothing?"

At this, the memotrice's eyes gave a soft, brown-red glow. It was brief, but he could still detect it. Perhaps the creature did understand him after all. It made sense, too. If the creator intended for it to alter memories and to be, well, evil, wouldn't they have wanted to be able to at least understand what its prey was saying? Not much fun to mess with people if one could not understand a word they said.

"So...what do you say?"

The memotrice stared at him for a few moments. It pulled its head back and let out a loud squawk. It raised its wings up as it did so, its neck feathers fluffing up slightly. Skrawl smiled, taking this as a yes. He moved over to begin unlocking the creature's cage.

"Hey, Ucto! Do you need any..." A sharp gasp. "...what..?"

Skrawl froze. He gritted his teeth. Had he really waited that long? Was he really that unaware of his surroundings that he could not detect that a zoner was coming? He couldn't believe it. Slowly, he turned his head and looked behind him.

He could see that same zoner from before. The one he spoke to over the phone. The one that greeted him when he came into the building. While before the zoner was concerned yet happy to see 'him', now he stood in shock, his eyes bulging. He could detect an avalanche of emotions rushing through him, intermixing into a singular one.

The zoner's lower lip was shaking, his teeth clenching in fear. He took a step back, pressing his hand against the wall's edge. He tried to speak, but at first, only incoherent stammering sounded out. He kept his eyes locked on Skrawl, shaking his head slowly as he tried to fully comprehend what he was seeing. Only after a few more moments did the zoner speak, its voice nothing but a small squeak.

"Y-You're not..."

It was only then that Skrawl realized that the zoner had noticed the tear. He looked down at himself, realizing that there were actually more tears on its body than he thought. Most of them were small; he could see why the memotrice didn't react to them. But the one around his face was long and the skin was pulled back, revealing a body, his body, underneath it. He knew right than that his disguise would no longer work. Now he needed to take action.

"What did..." The zoner gulped, licking his lips. "What did you do to Ucto..?"

Skrawl blinked a few times. Then he gave a wide, twisted grin. "Why nothing... He was just so generous to loan me this outfit. But if you want it back, I suppose I can't keep it from you anymore."

With that, Skrawl, tore off the skin. This act caused the zoner to let out a terrified shriek and jump back. Skrawl soon held the ripped up skin of the zoner he had previously disguised himself as. He gave a wicked smile at the shocked zoner, waving the skin, watching as the zoner stared at it moving to and fro. He pulled his arm back and thrust it forward as hard as he could, releasing it dramatically with wide open claws.

The skin fell on the zoner, causing another scream. The zoner scrambled back, falling on his back and flailing his limbs around and getting the skin off of him. He stared down in horror at the skin, taking in several quick beaths. He looked over at Skrawl, his eyes flickering in recognition.

"S-Skrawl...?" The zoner whimpered. Skrawl just smirked at him. Slowly, the zoner climbed up to his feet, his legs trembling as he did so. He hunched his body forward, his breathing still shaky, his wide eyes refusing to leave him. He took in more deep breaths, licking his lips nervously, his mind racing with thoughts.

"I couldn't believe how easy you were to fool." Skrawl commented, raising a hand up in gesture. "I would have thought you would be more suspicious. If you cared about Ucto, wouldn't you have wanted to check the arm? To make sure it actually existed?" At this, the zoner narrowed his eyes slightly. Skrawl laughed at this. "But don't worry. I did leave his body out there for you to find. If you wish to pay him a visit and show your respects... I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Y-You..." The zoner seethed. His eyes narrowed further and Skrawl soon became aware of the emotion that now washed through him. Anger and rage. The shaking body gave this away. "You monster...!"

Skrawl took a step back, but he was not fast enough to dodge as the zoner rushed towards him. He raised his claws to try to fight back, only for the zoner to crash intot him. He was forced into the ground, the back of his head hitting against something solid. He felt the zoner grip onto his thick neck tightly, trying to strangle him.

"I'm going to kill you!" The zoner wailed, rapid tears moving down his face.

Skrawl struggled underneath the zoner. He pushed his hand against his chest and pushed upward, raising him a little up from his body. The zoner's hands still gripped around his throat, digging his nails in. Skrawl flinched at this, a wave of pain moving through him. He pulled his leg back and struck against the zoner's stomach, causing him to fly back. He instantly got up to his feet as the zoner rolled across the ground.

He widened his eyes slightly as the zoner barreled down towards him again, the teeth flashing in a growl. He stepped out of the way and he struck down with his fist, slamming it in the middle of his back. The zoner let out a cry of pain and crashed into the ground. He lifted his head up and shook it and growled back at Skrawl.

The jellybean hunched his back and waited for the zoner to approach him. When the zoner lunged at him, he grabbed onto his arm tightly, twisting it. The zoner immediately began to strike at him, trying to sink his teeth into him. Skrawl flinched as he felt the teeth try to penetrate his arm. He yanked back, making the zoner tumble, and then he threw him as hard as he could at the cage. He watched as the cage fell back, the memotrice flapping as it crashed into the ground. The zoner he had tossed soon laid on top of it, letting out a soft groan.

Skrawl rushed over and grabbed the zoner by his neck. He shook him hard, slamming him against the cage over and over again, not noticing how bent the bars and clear shield were getting as he did so. He soon tossed the zoner away, letting him slide on his back up towards the wall. Spreading his claws out, the tips glinting in the light, Skrawl dashed towards the zoner, letting out a loud yell of rage.

Again and again, he struck the zoner. Bloody gashes appeared all over his body as he sliced and diced him up. He could hear the zoner's screams grow louder, echoing in his head. It hurt his ear drums, but he did not care. All he cared about was striking this zoner, wanting to make him pay for daring to try to stop him. He could soon smell fresh blood and it was then that he realized what he had done.

At his feet laid another dead zoner. He had ripped him open quite badly. He could see the puddle of blood forming, and he took note of all the gashes he had torn into him. The face, chest, and arms were the most frequently targeted. He then noticed the wound that had killed the zoner. A deep gash along his throat, a torrent of blood still gushing from it.

Skrawl stood there in shock for several moments. He hadn't intended on killing another zoner yet. He looked down at his claws, seeing how they were all coated in blood. He looked from them and then to the body, his body rapidly registering what happened.

He soon heard the sound of footprints rapidly approaching. He lifted up his head and he could see more of the guards. He realized they must have heard the commotion.

"Is anything... What the hell happened?!" One of the guards wailed as soon as he laid eyes on the gruesome scene. He looked from the dead body to the skin, then to Skrawl. "You! Skrawl?!" He raised his gun up towards him. "Freeze!"

The other guards with him, all three of them, stood at his side and raised their guns at him as well. Skrawl froze where he stood, taking a small step back. He looked at the zoners with wide eyes, his mind struggling to figure a way out of here. He looked left and right slowly, quickly realizing that he didn't have much of a way out of here. Not unless he tried for a distraction somehow.

"What did you do to Ucto and Rem?!" One of the zoners called out. Her voice was shaky and Skrawl could see she had a hint of tears in her eyes. "What the fuck did you do?!"

Despite his situation, Skrawl couldn't help but contort his face in a vicious grin. "Oh what do you think?" She widened her eyes as he tilted his head. "But I do not see why you are so upset. I think I improved them..."

At this, the female guard clenched her teeth tightly, seething rapidly. The other guards looked at her nervously and took a step back.

"You... You're dead!"

Skrawl watched as the female guard prepared to fire her gun. He tensed himself up, preparing to dodge to the side to get out of the way. He wasn't sure if he would make it in time. But at least he could try to minimize the damage before she could hit him. A part of him scolded himself for doing something so stupid.

Before the female guard had a chance to attack him, however, there was a loud squawk, a flash of red and orange, and soon the female guard was down.

Skrawl widened his eyes in shock. The memotrice? How did it... He looked behind him and saw that the cage had been sufficiently damaged in the fight with the other guard, allowing the memotrice to escape. He looked back and watched as the memotrice slashed the female guard's throat open, allowing the blood to spill all over the ground. The female guard thrashed about on the ground, struggling to breathe. She soon stopped moving altogether, and in seconds, her wide, terrified eyes were glazed over.

The memotrice jumped in front of her and spread out its wings. It let out a loud squawk at the guards, who stared at it fearfully, their bodies trembling.

Skrawl watched as the memotrice looked over at him. For a few moments, they just stared at one another. Slowly the memotrice's face altered, and a small smile began to stretch behind its beak. It was in that moment that Skrawl knew that the memotrice had just agreed to this alliance. With a return smile, Skrawl pointed at the guards and said one thing.

"Kill them!"


	4. Extreme And Desperate Measures

Skrawl could hardly believe the sight that laid before him. He knew that the memotrice was quite capable, but he didn't know just how far it could go.

The memotrice hadn't even laid a claw on anyone. Not since it had knocked that one girl away from him and killed her. As it had stood in front of the guards, Skrawl had expected it to attack. He had given the order. He didn't understand why the beast wouldn't listen to him. The thought boiled his blood. How dare it disobey him already...

Now he could see why it didn't attack. It had made a move that not only amazed him, but horrified him at the same time. It was complete and utter proof that the metal helmets do not work at all like they thought; the creature was only pretended, as if playing some kind of sick, twisted game with them. He couldn't help but smile at this. He was going to enjoy working with this creature.

The beast's eyes had started to glow, and Skrawl knew that its powers were being activated. The guards had almost immediately started act funny. They gripped their heads, and their helmets clanged to the ground as they swayed their heads. Then they looked at each other. Any concern they had was rapidly replaced with contempt. Snarls and growls filled the air moments later and the guards started to attack each other.

The memotrice had already replaced their memories. It was a shock just how fast it had been able to accomplish this. No, wait...it was still going. The eyes were still glowing. There was more to come.

Skrawl flinched as he saw just the amount of hatred the guards had for each other now. They were at each other's throats, trying to choke and beat each other to death. He could see them struggling to find any kind of weapon, and when finding none, used their fists and feet. The sight would be horrifying to anyone who happened to know the guards. It made Skrawl wonder just what memories the memotrice had placed inside of them.

Skrawl placed his hand against his head, clenching his teeth in a soft whimper. What if he was next? Perhaps freeing this thing was not such a good idea after all. He was impressed that the memotrice had been able to trick them for this long, but a part of him couldn't help but feel terrified; what if it decided to turn against him afterwards? He no longer had a way to protect himself now.

Well the creature had saved him. And it hadn't yet tried to hurt him. So..that was a promising sign, right...?

His thoughts were torn away when he heard a loud scream. He turned his head and saw that one of the guards had managed to bash another's head against the wall, cracking it open. Then there was another scream as another guard managed to reak the arm of another, causing him to fall to the ground. Then there was a stomp against his throat and a loud, horrific gagging sound. It was enough to send chills through his body despite the fact that he had ordered this to happen.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that the shouts and cries died down, and all the guards laid on the ground. Some were dead, killed in rather horrific ways, like this one whose severed hand was shoved up his throat. Others were alive. Skrawl noted one of them, whose head was lifted up and whimpering something coherent at him. A request for death, maybe? The guy's intenstines were ripped out a little, caused by repeated bitings in that area. Skrawl denied him this; he was going to die soon anyway.

Now it was just him and the memotrice. They stared at one another, neither making a sound. Skrawl found it difficult to turn his head away. He had no idea what to expect with this creature. He feared that the moment he looked away, the creature would attack him.

But so far, it was just standing there, regarding him curiously. Skrawl licked his lips nervously. Despite the fact that the creature had declared its allegience to him, he still couldn't help but feel very nervous around it. He had seen what this creature could do. How easily it could rip into flesh, how easily it could alter memories... He could already imagine it happening to him. What kind of memories would this thing give him and how would he even know it was happening? What if it had already started to replace his memories for kicks...?

Skrawl tried to push away that horrible thought. If he kept fearing something like that, he was only going to increase the odds of it happening. He would only distract himself and he couldn't afford that. The memotrice may decide to cancel its partnership with him if he gave it any reason to believe he wasn't trustworthy.

Skrawl smiled the best he could, placing a hand against himself as he took a step forward. "My my... That was quite a marvelous display there."

The memotrice nodded its head. It made no sound. Skrawl realized that it likely could not speak. He frowned slightly at this. He wondered how they were going to communicate. Well he needed to try.

Skrawl held his hand out towards the memotrice. "Why don't we go to my place and discuss matters further? This is not the right place for such talk."

The memotrice tilted its head to one side. It looked around the room, regarding it with its keen brown eyes. It looked back at him and it gave a single nod of its head.

"Splendid!" Skrawl tapped his fingers together, smiling. He was quite eager to get started. He had so much he wanted to discuss with this creature. But for now, they had to get a move on. "Just follow me. I'll take you to your new...temporary home and I'll tell you what you can do for me."

The memotrice pawed at the ground, scraping its talons against it. Skrawl flinched at this and froze, wondering if he had upset the memotrice in some way. He calmed down when the thing wasn't attacking, but instead motioning to itself. Its feet scraping the ground were going towards itself, the talons pushed back in the air, bending towards its body. Skrawl realized what the creature was trying to say.

"Oh, you want to know what is in it for you?" Asked Skrawl. At the memotrice's nod, he said, "Well, I did let you out..." The memotrice narrowed its eyes. Skrawl immediately raised his hands. "Okay! You want something more, I take it?"

The memotrice nodded and let out a squawk. Skrawl bit his lip. He hadn't thought about exactly what he could give the memotrice. He had hoped that simply freeing it would be enough. He should have thought this through more.

He tapped his chin thoughtfully and tried to think of what this thing could want. He didn't know a whole lot about it. This would create quite the challenge when trying to figure out what he could give the creature. Just what would the memotrice want? The only way he could find out was if he asked it and...

"Why don't we discuss it at my hideout?" Skrawl offered. "You can tell me what you want, and I will see that it happens. Is that fair enough?"

The memotrice turned its head to the side. It raised its wing up towards its head and narrowed its eyes thoughtfully. After a few moments, it turned its pupil to Skrawl, regarding him curiously. It then turned its body towards him and nodded its head a couple of times. It gave a couple of chirps of affirmation.

Skrawl smiled at this. "Well then... Let's get going."

The memotrice tilted its head the other way and gave a quizzical chirp. Skrawl was about to ask what it was staring at him like that for when he realized just where it was getting at. He gave a dark, twisted smile, which appeared to confuse it a little.

Raising his hand up to the side, he said, "Oh don't worry about that. You can handle the remaining guards, right?" He paused for a moment, then a brilliant idea came to his head. His eyes glinted as he stared at the memotrice. "Better yet, why don't we...clean this place up? I think it can serve a much better use, don't you?"

The memotrice appeared to like the sound of that. The smile it had on before returned, and it spread its wings out, arching them over as if it were trying to hold onto something at its sides. It needed no further prompting before it raced down the hallway. Skrawl gasped in surprise, not expecting it to take off so fast. He soon took off, running after the memotrice.

sss

Well that certainly had been lucky. Penny wasn't sure if they would be able to get back here before anyone realized they were gone. She also wasn't sure if they could slip back into the playground unnoticed. Thankfully, no one seemed to say anything, just like how it always was. This helped her feel a little bit of relief.

But she couldn't totally relax. Her mind was swimming with thoughts regarding their latest encounter with Biclops. Never before had things been so tense in that cave. It was so thick, she could almost feel it as she and her friends walked through it. She had never seen Biclops look so horrified before. She had wanted to do something to comfort him, but given this situation, just what could she say?

The idea of a zoner being able to warp memories was horrifying enough. But the fact that Skrawl appeared to be after said zoner made things so much worse. Biclops had relayed the information to them, telling them everything he had seen. There was no doubt in her or Rudy's mind that Skrawl would use the creature for his own benefits. It was best that they went after him as soon as possible.

However, they couldn't take action yet. They had to get back to school, otherwise their teacher would get suspicious. As much as they hated leaving Biclops and Snap in spite of how terrified they were, they knew they had no choice. They promised they would stop in later and speak to them more about this. They accepted, although Penny could tell that they didn't look very comforted.

She remained seated against Rudy. Her mind was too numb and full to think of doing anything else for recess, despite there being some time left. Never before had the seconds and minutes pass by so slowly. This was going to be a long school day. There were still a few more hours left before they could go home. She gritted her teeth. This was going to take forever. She wished that time would speed up and she and Rudy could just appear in their homes so they could go to ChalkZone and deal with Skrawl already.

She turned her head to where Rudy was. She could see how his head was facing down, his facial expression contorted in concern and horror. She couldn't help but feel a pang in her stomach and chest. She hadn't seen Rudy look so worried before. It was one thing to not know about something and trying to fix it when this realization was known. But it was very different when the danger was known but there was no present way to do something about it. If it had been up to Rudy, she knew they would have stayed in ChalkZone longer. If only it were a day off today...

She could only hope that Skrawl hadn't gotten to the creature yet. It was locked up in a high security prison according to Snap. That offered some comfort. Perhaps it would slow Skrawl down enough to let them formulate a plan to stop him.

But she could not dismiss the idea of him finding a way in anyway. He was an intelligent zoner who was able to pull off incredible stunts. His first appearance to them when he trapped them in the museum deserved special mention, considering just how close he came to wiping them off the face of the world so soon. She shuddered as she remembered how they could have all drowned to death. Choking on chalk.. Not exactly something she hoped to feel any time soon.

She tried to relax herself a little. She couldn't allow this to get to her. She would do herself no favors by getting worked up about it. She and Rudy would be able to do something about Skrawl soon. She just needed to calm herself down and let the remaining hours move by so that she and Rudy could get into ChalkZone quicker. According to Snap, there had been no reported attacks yet. There was still some time.

She leaned herself against Rudy, placing her warmth against him. Rudy looked down at her, both of them sharing a gaze. She put her arm around him and pressed him against her. She wanted to comfort him the best that she could in this uncertain time. She could feel Rudy return her affection, pressing his head against her shoulder. No words were spoken. They didn't need to be. Their gestures were enough to convey what the other wanted to say.

This was soon broken by the bell ringing. They both immediately lifted up their heads, looking at where the school entrance was. They could see the kids, many with disappointed looks, moving towards the school. They used less vigor and energy from before, something that didn't come as a surprise considering recess was the highlight of most of their days.

She glanced at Rudy and nodded her head once. They needed to head inside as well. Even though they felt so emotionally drained and demotivated, they had to get going and head inside before they get into trouble. Paying attention with the remaining classes was going to be difficult, but it was something they had to do. At least they only had a few hours left, and when they got into ChalkZone, they could take care of Skrawl, and this whole nightmare would be over. Then they could relax.

As they approached the door, she couldn't help but notice Reggie standing right there. He had a frown on his face. He must be disappointed that he wasn't able to come out to recess yet. She guessed that he was stuck inside, cleaning the erasers. Penny couldn't help but smile at this. It was a little amusing how Reggie was always the one stuck cleaning the erasers, if it wasn't Mr. Wilter that is. She felt some level of satisfaction knowing that Reggie wasn't going to be able to bother those kids today. That would surely put a 'damper on his day' now wouldn't it?

It was only moments later that she took notice of just where he was looking. She thought he was looking out at the playground in general. But as soon as she cracked a small smile, Reggie had started to narrow his eyes more deeply. She felt her heart skip a beat. It might have been a minor detail, but it was enough to convince her that Reggie was peering straight at her and Rudy. This realization nearly made her stop walking.

Why was Reggie glaring at her and Rudy like this? What did he want? What was he going to do? She casted a nervous glance with Rudy, who looked just as unnerved as he was. There was something on Reggie's mind, and it didn't look like the usual bullying tactic. He hadn't rushed over to them, made an obnoxious comment, and ran. This was something different, something much more serious. This was not the Reggie they knew, and it scared them.

Despite wanting to remain still, the bell of the school prompted them to keep moving forward. They could feel their hearts clench and speed up as they got closer to Reggie. They tried to make themselves move at normal speed, tried whatever they could to hide their anxiousness. But Reggie's expression was enough for them to realize that he wasn't buying it.

Soon they reached the door. They flinched slightly, expecting him to say something. To their surprise and confusion, the boy remained silent. Penny realized it must be due to the bell; he couldn't say anything because they all had to get back to class as soon as possible.

Well, he almost didn't say anything. As they began to move a little past him, he said, "I'll see you after class. Both of you."

Rudy and Penny looked at each other, and then back at Reggie. He watched them for a few moments before he started to walk forward. He moved up until he was at their side, his eyes never leaving them. He stared at them intently, his brown eyes boring through theirs. They remained locked this way for a few seconds before Reggie started to walk again, heading back to class.

Penny and Rudy watched as Reggie left them in a state of confusion. They couldn't help but look at one another a second time, sharing expressions of confusion.

What was Reggie getting at? What did he want? Why did he want to see them after class? Their first thought would be that he wanted to beat them up, but he never called out more than one person at a time. It would be a pretty risky thing to do. He didn't like not having the upperhand, and preferred targeting single, smaller students whenever he felt like beating someone up.

Rudy had been a target of him a few times before. It was one of two things. Either in the hallway or after school. He would pin Rudy and punch him a few times. Thankfully Reggie never went that far in his attacks and the worse Rudy ever had to go away with was a black eye or a slight limp. He had been punished for these attacks, but they didn't stop him. It probably helped that Reggie resorted mostly to verbal threats and physical moves that didn't really cause harm, such as seizing of the throat.

Him calling out the two of them at once was not something they had seen before with Reggie. Well there were those boys that he hung out with, but he never actually beat them up all at once. His large size was enough to stop any kind of struggle and the worst he does is drag them around and make them do stuff for him.

So what did Reggie want with them? The look in his eyes... Penny could tell there was something there she hadn't seen before. Something that told her something was up. But what?

Well there was nothing she and Rudy could do about it now. All they could do was continue onto class. They wouldn't be able to avoid Reggie. They might as well agree to meet up with him before they left for home. She could only hope that he didn't keep them for too long.

Without saying another word, she and Rudy continued on their way to class.

sss

Biclops was not able to relax. No matter how hard he tried, it was just impossible. How was he supposed to relax with such a dangerous creature out there? Especially since Skrawl wanted to capture this creature for himself? It didn't take a genius to know exactly what Skrawl would do with the memotrice.

What unnerved Biclops even more is that the memotrice's powers were increased when it came to a zoner who also had memory-based powers. He was certain this was creator intent. That seemed to be too much of a specific ability to really be coincidence. Perhaps this creature was meant to be a character in a comic book?

He didn't care at the moment. What the creature was initially intended for didn't matter to him. All he knew is that this thing was definitely evil. A monster that was a menace to all of ChalkZone. Altering memories, turning loved ones against other just for kicks and giggles. How revolting... The fact that the creature would not have any qualms or shame when it came to what it wanted to do was probably the most disgusting of all.

But it wasn't just disgust he felt for it. He also had a level of fear towards it. That whole 'effects are stronger on memory-based zoners' really had him worried. He was one such memory-based zoner, having stored events of ChalkZone inside of him. He feared what might happen if he were to cross paths with the little creature. What kind of havoc could it wreak upon him? He hoped he would never have to find out.

He wished that Rudy and Penny could have stayed longer. He was hoping that they could help him and Snap figure out what they could do. But he understood why they head to leave. Penny did bring up a good point about how it would cause problems if they stayed too long. He and Snap, albeit reluctantly, let them leave so they could head back to school. At least they would be back later and they could begin discussing the problem.

Snap didn't stay for much longer. They weren't able to figure out much of anything. Well, nothing that they already didn't, anyway. Plus, Snap had promised that he would meet Blocky somewhere for some kind of game, and Snap wasn't the type of zoner to break a promise if he could help it.

Biclops didn't really like being alone right now. Normally he didn't mind it. He was a solitary zoner and preferred his privacy. But with that zoner around, it wasn't something that he particularly liked. He felt rather frightened right now, his bodily movements tense, his eyes wide and darting left and right nervously. Even though he knew no one was in here, he couldn't help but constantly look around, trying to find any sign of trouble.

He reminded himself over and over that the memotrice was still locked up. There was no way that Skrawl could get it that fast. Not with how well guarded that place was. Skrawl would be foiled for a while, which gave plenty of time for them to figure out a plan. So long as they were able to stop him from laying a hand on that zoner, everything was going to be fine.

For now, there wasn't much he could do. He tried to settle himself down. Perhaps he should try to exercise or something to get his mind off of things. Yeah, that sounded pretty good right about now. He had a nice large treadmill back in his cave. That would be perfect to work off some of the anxiety rising up inside of him. Maybe afterwards, he'll be able to think better, and maybe he could think of some kind of plan to use against Skrawl.

He had to keep himself at least somewhat alert. He had to keep his eyes and ears open for any news regarding that memotrice. He had to be ready. He would never know when he would have to face off against the creature. He could only hope that he would be able to take it off guard and knock it unconscious or something before it could do anything. Or even kill it... Not a route he liked, but he would take it if he absolutely had to. Sometimes, there was just no other choice.

And with Skrawl around, he knew that he would have to tread lightly and remain cautious. He had seen what that horrible zoner was capable of doing. He knew that he would not be able to relax. Skrawl was a vicious, dangerous zoner who nearly succeeded in taking over ChalkZone a few times. There was no doubt that he would seize that opportunity once he got the memotrice. He could trick all the zoners into believing he had always been the rightful ruler and that Rudy Tabootie was some interloper that was trying to trick them all.

Or worse...

Biclops gulped at the thought of how Skrawl could do worse. But he was certain that he could. Even he himself could be a target. After all, he guarded the Chalk Mine. And if he was targeted...

His eyes suddenly went wide in realization, his mouth dropping open. What if that's what Skrawl had planned? What if he was the target that he had in mind? What if, as soon as he got the memotrice, he would come flocking over to him to 'take care of him?'

Oh why didn't he think of this before? Of course he would be a prime target to Skrawl. He was the one who guarded the Chalk Mine. If something were to happen to him, Skrawl could try to destroy it again, which would cut off Rudy's supply of the magic chalk and Skrawl could then swoop in and 'deal' with him. Without any way to defend himself, there was little chance that Rudy would last long against Skrawl. All it would take is one strike of those claws and he was done for.

Biclops bit his lip. He wished he had thought about this before he let Rudy and Penny go back to the Real World. He wished that he had warned him of that potential possibility. Yeah he had given Rudy more chalk, but if his supply was cut off, those pieces of chalk would only last him for so long. If he ran out and something had happened to him himself... what was going to happen?

He hoped that he would be able to warn Rudy and Penny in time, or at least relay in the information to Snap so he could tell them. At least if they knew what to expect, they could better prepare for it. This wouldn't remove the challenge by any means, but at least it wouldn't be as difficult. Knowing was half the battle, right?

Well there wasn't anything he could do about that right now. He might as well get started on that exercise. Rudy and Penny would be here later today. He could speak to them then. Right now, he should probably get on that treadmill and try to get rid of some of this pent up anxiety. He imagined it was going to be quite difficult to speak to them if he let his anxiety rise up too much. Not a good idea to try to relay important information this way.

He took one last look around the horizon, noting the trees and grass in the distance, the sun that was hanging overhead, the few zoners that passed by harmlessly, before he turned his attention back to the cave entrance. He took in a deep breath and sighed. He began to make his way back inside and headed towards his treadmill. Never before had he looked so forward to getting on that thing. He knew that this exercise was going to do wonders for him.

sss

The remainder of the class went on pretty smoothly. Mrs. Sanchez had talked about other things regarding pet care, and had brought out a few more animals for them to play with. The students were having a lot of fun, although most of their attention were to the cute, cuddly animals, many of which were fought over.

They all had to take a quiz right after. This was not something they could escape from. They either took it or they all got poor grades added to their report cards. Since none of them wanted that, they all reluctantly stopped petting the animals and returned to their seats. The quiz was over in about fifteen minutes, and they passed up their paperwork. Mr. Wilter said he will have the grades tomorrow.

Mrs. Sanchez left the classroom about ten minutes before the final bell. She took the animals back to her car and would wait there for Rudy and Penny, as she was taking them home. With the remaining five minutes, Mr. Wilter simply relayed some of the information that had been given to them. A way to refresh their minds so they would remember more clearly the information they had been told today.

Rudy was hardly paying attention to the teacher at the moment. His mind kept wandering around to other, more urgent matters. It was difficult for him to relax and clear his mind. All he could do was constantly oversee some rather uncomfortable information that kept ringing out through his skull.

He thought back to their trip into ChalkZone. He was unnerved by the thought of a memory altering zoner. He wasn't sure if he or Penny would be affected by it, but he knew that Snap and the others would.

And Skrawl was going after it... If he managed to get the creature...

He wasn't sure how things could get any worse at that point. Skrawl would be able to alter the memories of any zoner he chose. Some targets would have particularly widespread effects. Rudy had some good ideas on which zoners he would most likely target. The biggest one of course was Biclops, considering his position of guarding the Chalk Mine and being the closest thing to authority in that section of ChalkZone.

He had been glad when the day zipped by a little more quickly than he had thought it would. Already, it was nearing time to leave. He turned his head and looked up at the clock. The minute hand was so close... Just a few bars away. Once that second hand went all the way around, and that minute hand went to the twelve, it would be over.

He couldn't wait to get back into ChalkZone. He wanted to meet up with Biclops as soon as possible and try to figure out what they could do. They had a little bit of time; Skrawl would surely be too distracted by the security to be able to nab the memotrice too fast. Rudy could take advantage of that delay to come up with something.

Or would they be wasting their times going directly to Biclops? Shouldn't they try to go to the holding area instead? He hadn't thought about it before, but this route seemed to make the most sense. The sooner they got to that location, the sooner they could offer a defense to keep that evil jellybean away. He knew Skrawl would not be foolish enough to try anything too drastic when he had to face off against two creators.

He wondered how Biclops and Snap were doing. They must feel so afraid right now. Knowing that there was a crazed zoner who could turn them against each other, alter their entire personalities...

Rudy shuddered at the thought of that. What horrific thought... There wasn't much scarier than losing oneself, for one to be changed beyond recognition, to forget everything they loved and held dear... Wait, he could think of something even scarier than that. Feeling it happening, and being helpless to stop it.

He stared at the clock intensely, watching how it seemed to move at a snail's pace. He gritted his teeth. Come on, clock... Move...

After what felt like ages, the clock's second hand passed the twelve mark enough times, making the minute hand touch the twelve. Seconds later, the bell began to ring. This caused Rudy, along with Penny, to let out exhales of relief, their breath escaping their throats. They got out of their seats, their chair's squeaking overshadowed by the shouts of the children as they rushed out of the room.

Over the cry of the other classmates, he could hear Mr. Wilter say, "Now don't forget, class! Read and study chapter 5! You will have an extensive test on that on Wednesday of next week!"

Rudy could see Penny writing this down in her small notebook before shoving it in her bag. Such an act did not come as a surprise to him. He and her both remembered the last time when they had gotten the wrong assignments. He flinched as he rubbed his wrist, still feeling the ache from that day. He did not want to have to go through that again.

He and Penny headed towards the door as most of the other students left. They remained silent, their eyes holding a level of determination. They did not need to speak to one another to know what the other was thinking. Now that school was over, they could begin to attend to the more urgent matter of ChalkZone.

Soon, the two children were heading down the hallway. Many of the students were at their lockers, grabbing their things or just chit chatting. He and Penny had to navigate through them, and soon, near the exit of the school, it was largely empty. Getting through there didn't take nearly as long, save for a near run-in with one of the older students. Further outside the door, they could see the parking lot, and the tell tale yellow color that gave away where Mrs. Sanchez had parked her car.

Rudy could feel a sensation spread through him, starting from his heart and spreading outward. They were so close to finally going home. So close to finally being able to deal with Skrawl. Soon, all this anxiety clouding up inside of his chest was going to go away, and he and Penny could finally relax, and ChalkZone could breathe a sigh of relief. Soon they exited out of the school doors and headed down the steps.

They did not get too far.

As soon as they reached the bottom step, something grabbed onto them. The two kids let out a shout of surprise, only to be muffled as something gagged them. They were dragged back away from the stairs at surprising speed. They were slammed against something hard and cold. Their eyes shut tightly, they struggled against their captors' grasp, their hearts racing in their chests. But the grasp on them only tightened.

When they opened their eyes, they were shocked to see that it wasn't Reggie or some other bully in the school, but instead it was Bobby and Harvey, the two kids that were forced to hang around Reggie. Bobby had pinned Rudy while Harvey had a hold of Penny. The two children were able to yank their heads away, and they immediately began to express their displeasure.

"What are you guys doing?!" Penny stared at them in bewilderment.

Rudy tried to yank his arm free. "Let us go!"

Both Bobby and Harvey gave them looks of sympathy. It was clear that neither of them really wanted to do this. Despite that, they did not let go of them. It was as if they were terrified of what might happen to them if they allowed them to leave.

"We're...so sorry..." Bobby whispered. "We... We didn't want to..."

"Just hold still. Make it easier." Stated Harvey.

The two boys moved in closer and pushed their bodies against Rudy and Penny. This pinned them further against the wall and reduced their mobility. Rudy and Penny continued to struggle, refusing to give up. They had no idea what was going on, but they weren't about to stand around here and find out.

Both of them were a bit unnerved by how strong these boys were. More so than any of them could have imagined. Who knew that two timid boys whom Reggie could control with a single finger would be able to hold their own like this? No matter how hard they pushed and pulled, these two boys were not budging. Their attempts of escape only seemed to increase their efforts to hold them still, and they couldn't help but flinch as they felt their arms being squeezed tighter.

Rudy froze when he heard footsteps. He turned his head and he could see Reggie coming down the stairs. He was looking straight at them, his brown eyes nearly boring through theirs. It was in that moment that Rudy remembered their encounter with Reggie in the hallway, and how he had called the two of them out. He had been so much more worried about ChalkZone, he had forgotten about this.

He still had no idea what Reggie wanted with them. But it must be really important to him if he made Bobby and Harvey catch them like this. Normally, Reggie preferred doing things on his own. Now, he was using numbers to his advantage, as he had them outnumbered two to three.

Well, looks like he and Penny were about to find out.

"Look, Reggie. I don't know what you want..." Penny began to say. "But I hope you don't plan on keeping us for long. My mom is waiting and if she sees what you are doing..."

Reggie raised his hand up and moved it from side to side dismissively. "Yeah, yeah... I know. Don't worry. I don't plan on making this long." He paused for a moment. Then he folded his arms against his chest. "That all depends on how well you cooperate."

Rudy cocked an eyebrow at this. "Cooperate? With what?"

"My questions."

At this, Rudy and Penny looked over at one another. Questions? Just what kind of questions did this guy have? How urgent did they need to be in order for this guy to go this far with getting the information that he wanted? This wasn't like the Reggie they knew. Just what in the world did he want to ask them, and how could it be so important that he was willing to do this, instead of just outright asking them?

"Okay.. What kind of questions do you have, Reggie?" Asked Rudy. "And make them quick. We wouldn't want something...embarrassing happening, now would we?" He gave Reggie a knowing smile.

This caused the bully to flinch; he knew exactly what he was referring to. Harvey and Bobby gave a few questioning and confused cries, but Reggie ignored them completely. Rudy knew this was because Reggie did not want to give them the slightest hint of that deep dark secret that Rudy knew about now. He didn't really want to wield it like this, but if it makes Reggie move faster and avoid trouble...

Reggie answered almost immediately. "I saw a strange light coming from the side of the school." At this, Harvey and Bobby exchanged confused looks. "Then I saw you two coming from that spot." He pointed his hand towards them. "I was hoping if you could tell me what that was."

At first, Rudy didn't know what he was talking about. A strange light? He looked over at Penny. He and her didn't recall ever seeing any sort of strange light from the school. Had Reggie eaten something to day that was causing a temporary hallucination. Unlikely, but it was still possible. With the appetite that boy had...

Oh no...

Something clicked in Rudy's head. He wasn't able to stop his eyes from widening in shock. He stared Reggie, hoping that it was something else, anything else.

But what if it was true? If Reggie was talking about a strange light they walked out of...

He could feel his heart clench at the possibility. He could see Penny was looking at him, no longer confused and having wide eyes. It seemed she had figured it out herself as well. There was one thing that they both knew would have produced the same effect. The same sudden glow and disappearance, with them being in the same spot. It was something they hoped wasn't true, but the longer they stared at Reggie, their minds going over the clues, the more they realized that this was perhaps reality.

Reggie had seen the portal.

At least part of it. He did not make any attempt to describe a portal, but he had still seen the light, and he had seen them in the same area. This would explain why he was staring at them the way he had. He was confused and suspicious. He had correctly deduced they were behind it, and he wanted to know more about it.

Rudy struggled to find an answer he could give. What could he and Penny say that would get Reggie off of their hair? What answer would be acceptable to him? Judging from his expression, whatever he or Penny tell him would need to be very convincing. Reggie was in one of those moods, and if they say one thing wrong, he was going to jump to all sorts of conclusions.

"Well? Aren't you going to tell me?" Reggie spoke up, narrowing his eyes at the two kids. "I'm not letting you go until you tell me." He folded his arms against himself. "I was hoping you would be more willing to speak if I brought my 'friends' with."

Rudy narrowed his eyes. "So you did plan on keeping us a while."

"Only long enough for you two to tell me the truth." Reggie's voice had a strange pitch to it. Something they hadn't heard from him before. "I know something is up, and all I want to know is what it is." He took a few steps closer. "I don't want to have to do anything to you guys. All I want is an answer." He narrowed his eyes a bit further. "If you don't give me the answer in the next two minutes..."

Penny growled at this. "What do you plan on doing if our answer doesn't satisfy you?"

Reggie's lip curled up slightly. A look of desperation and aggression that the two kids hoped they would never get from Reggie. A look that meant he was all serious business right now. "You don't want to know..."

A cold shiver moved through the two friends' bodies. They gave each other a brief, nervous glance, before they stared back at Reggie. It was clear that seeing the flash of light had spooked Reggie to the point where he was acting beyond his usual self. He must be regarding that light as something to be feared, and he was willing to do whatever it took to find out about it.

Rudy wondered if Reggie was suffering some kind of flashback. Perhaps he was recalling his time in ChalkZone, when he was used by the red chalk to wreak havoc. The thought sent chills through Rudy's body. If Reggie remembered how he had bested up and outsmarted him...

Reggie looked at Rudy intently. He turned to look over at Penny. He noted their expressions, and he narrowed his eyes slightly. Rudy tried so hard not to gulp. He realized that he and Penny had screwed up there. Now Reggie thought that they had something to hide. And if he was really desperate to get that information... Even going as far as ignoring that blackmail he had on him...

Any hope of a teacher finding them in time would be moot. Most of the students were gone. The teachers were still inside. Mrs. Sanchez would not be able to see them from this angle. And the walls there were thick. Any attempts to shout would be quite difficult for anyone to hear. Reggie had planned this out surprisingly well.

"Still not going to answer?"

Thinking fast, Rudy stammered, "I-It was just our light show..."

Penny nodded her head. "Yeah. We were playing with a flashlight. A shadow puppet game! That's all."

Reggie narrowed his eyes. "Do you really think I'm going to buy into that?" Rudy and Penny winced at this. "Why don't you tell me the truth?"

The two children fell silent at this. They exchanged nervous looks with each other. What were they going to say now? Neither of them could figure out a good lie that would satisfy the boy. All they could do was stare at Reggie, their minds' gears rapidly turning as they struggled to think of something to say.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to think of something in time.

"Harvey. Bobby."

The two boys turned their head to Reggie. They gave him looks of apprehension, their teeth gritted nervously. "Yes, Reggie?" They spoke in unison.

Reggie raised his large arm up, his thick fingers snapping in the air. "Beat them up until they agree to tell the truth." The two boys lowered their heads in submission, and turned back to their captives, their eyes holding a high level of regret.

Rudy exchanged a look of horror with Penny. Their hearts beating quickly, they tried to get away. The boys simply held them further against the wall, scraping their exposed skin along it. They gagged as their throats were grasped tightly, their eyes shutting tightly. They managed to open up one eye and they looked at Bobby and Harvey. The two boys had formed a fist with their free hand and had it pulled back. The sight of it filled Rudy and Penny with fear, and they looked at the boys pleadingly.

"We're so sorry..."

That was the last thing Rudy heard before the pain started.


	5. The Voice Of Danger

Reggie narrowed his eyes as he looked at the scene before him. Many thoughts were running through his head, each one seeming to echo with each blow that was given. His lip curled up slightly and he shook his head slowly. These acts repeated themselves the longer he stared at this scene and he found himself biting his lip to keep from yelling.

Why weren't Rudy and Penny relenting? Why were they allowing this to continue happening to them? He didn't want to do this. He really didn't. Okay sure, he had moments where he did want to beat up Rudy, but not like this. He constantly kept his eyes and ears open to listen for the sound of an adult approaching. Someone was going to hear this ruckus soon. He would rather they all avoid the trouble, if only Rudy and Penny would just speak to him.

All he wanted was to understand what they were doing. He wanted to know what they were up to. Was that so wrong? He couldn't fathom any reason why they would continue remaining silent. After scream, after scream, he thought that they would finally give in and answer, only for them to continue resisting. It was frustrating, and he found himself forming a fist with his hand, shaking it.

"Answer me!"

But the two children still would not answer. They didn't even look in their direction. All they did was keep their eyes shut and looked away, accepting each blow. The sight of this confused Reggie. Why would they be so willing to take these hits? They were both pretty beaten up by this point. Yet they continued to take it. Why?

There had to be a reason for this. Reggie thought about this carefully, trying to search for anything in his head that would explain why they would. There were a few possibilities. But whether or not it was the reason was hard to say. The longer they didn't answer, the more questions that began to emerge in his mind.

The first and foremost one was: was what they were doing dangerous?

It was possible. That would indeed explain why they were refusing to tell him anything. They did not want to get into trouble with the adults. He understood that feeling all too well. For him to get away with 'playing' with others, he often had to use stealth and be very careful of what he did or said within earshot of an adult. Even then, he still found himself getting into trouble. Sometimes for things he didn't even do. So it made sense to him that Rudy and Penny would be paranoid if what they did was dangerous.

But how dangerous? That was the important question thatt would discern the seriousness of the situation. If it was anything like what he did, then it wasn't too bad that didn't call for immediate attention. But if it was something much more serious...

"Just tell me already!" Reggie snarled as he shook his fists at his side. "Let's just get this over with! Tell me what you were doing!"

Another punch was delivered to Rudy's face. His head jerked to the side. He let out a few painful coughs. He looked over at Reggie and he gave a half smile. "W-We told you... We weren't... We weren't d-d-doing anything..."

"Liar!" Reggie barked at them. He turned to Penny. "What about you? Are you going to tell me the truth?"

Penny winced as she felt Harvey gripped her hair and slammed her face against the concrete wall. She gave a shudder of pain, and looked over at Reggie. Despite what happened to her, she still managed to glare at him. "We have..n-nothing to tell y-you..."

Reggie growled at this. Despite all that was done to them by Harvey and Bobby, they still weren't relenting. Despite being punched, slammed, and kicked, they were not willing to tell him what they were doing. This only made his suspicions grow even more. Whatever they were doing... It must be horrible if they weren't willing to tell him what it was.

He felt a small pang of concern in his stomach. What if what they were hiding was dangerous? What if it could pose a threat to everyone, not just them? What if their keeping it a secret made things so much worse? What if they doing something that could bring harm to so many?

Reggie did not consider himself a hero. He wasn't the type that daydreamed of saving others' lives. But in this case, since he was included, he had to do something. Not to mention, while he wasn't showing it right now, he did have some concern for Rudy and Penny. He wished they could just see that he was trying to keep them from getting into trouble. Couldn't they see how an adult might react to this? They were better off telling him about it.

Bobby stomped on Rudy's foot and used his nails to slash up along his arm, leaving beyond shallow yet bloody and painful scratches. Harvey punched Penny in her throat, causing her to gag, and then drove his knee into her stomach, forcing her to caugh. Harvey then knocked her off her feet and pressed his foot against her back. He grabbed her arm and pulled it over behind her and began to bend it at an odd angle. Rudy called out for her but was silenced when his face was slammed against the wall. Bobby grabbed onto his hand and began to pull back two of his fingers, threatening to break them.

Reggie watched this scene in silence. Rudy and Penny looked over at him. He could see the pleading looks in their eyes for him to call them off. He simply folded his arms, narrowed his eyes, and waited. If they want them to stop, they knew what had to be done.

Yet they still didn't speak.

Reggie, not wanting to go as far as break a bone, waved his hand for Bobby and Harvey to stop. The two boys still held onto Rudy and Penny, and stared over at Reggie for more instructions. They remained silent, the looks in their eyes showing how much they were hating this.

"L-Let us go... Please. We-We didn't do anything.." Penny told him.

"Y-Yeah. W-We were just p-playing..." Rudy seethed in pain. "Why can't you s-s-see that...?"

Reggie narrowed his eyes at this. "Don't lie to me. I saw the flash of light." He pointed a finger at them. "You were not 'doing nothing'! And you weren't playing with your stupid chalk, either!" He pointed a thumb against himself. "I know what I saw! I'm not stupid!" He took a step forward, slamming a fist against his palm. "You two had better start speaking the truth, or you just might need some help..."

The two children stared at him wide-eyed, and even Harvey and Bobby looked shocked by this statement. A part of Reggie regretted it, but he had to do whatever he could to encourage Rudy and Penny to speak. Simply talking to them was not working, so he needed to find another way.

"I-I don't think that's..." Harvey started to say.

Reggie shot him a glare. "Oh no?"

Bobby nodded his head. "We...We've had enough. Can't we...?"

Reggie narrowed his eyes further. The sight of this was enough to make Bobby and Harvey shut their mouths and look away from him. They both knew better than to try to question his authority. They obeyed him. He didn't care if they didn't like this. So long as Rudy and Penny refused to speak, he was not going to let them go. They could make this all easier if they would just speak. But they were refusing. He couldn't give up just yet.

But how was he going to get them to speak? No matter what he tried so far, nothing was working. It was clear that Rudy and Penny were determined to keep this a secret, and they were willing to endure so much in order to keep him from finding out. He had to admire their determination, but all this was going to do was cause potential problems in the future. What was going to happen if this secret they were keeping came back and created some sort of disaster? A disaster that could be avoided if they would just speak up...

He stared at Rudy and Penny long and hard as his mind sifted through many thoughts. He tried ot think of something else he could try to get them to talk. He already tried having them struck and slammed. Perhaps it was time to try something different.

That's when it struck him. Something that he hadn't thought of before. Something that just might work.

He froze at the thought. Could he really have something like that done? He knew how dangerous it was and what kind of damage it could do. Even he himself didn't dare do it so much because of the threats that it posted. As if he wasn't going to be in enough trouble already with what he was doing to them now, if he did this...

But because of its intensity, maybe it would work. Maybe after this was done to them, they would be more willing to speak. He knew he would feel the same way if this were done to him. All it would take was for one, applied right, enough pressure, then they would scream and beg him to stop. Maybe they would even blurt out their secret due to the pain. A dirty, filthy tactic, but it if it would get results, if it were to help him find out if this place was dangerous or not, then he supposed he should give it a shot.

But which one first? He looked from Rudy to Penny. Which one would be more likely to crack under the pressure? Both were quite strong willed. He took a few moments to examine them to determine which one was the better choice. Rudy might be a good one, but then again he was used to getting beat up by him. Perhaps Penny? But she wasn't one to back down easily. He had seen her stand up to him before.

Which to choose...?

He finally settled on Penny. He turned to her and stared at her intently. He watched as she still attempted to squirm free. The sight was almost humorous, but he had other things to attend to first. He took a few steps towards her. She watched him carefully, her eyes widening as she waited for him to speak.

Reggie decided to give her another chance. "Are you going to tell me the truth?"

Penny growled at this. "I told you already.. We did n-n-nothing!"

Reggie frowned and shook his head in disappointment. "I would have expected better from you, Sanchez." He lowered his head slightly, staring at her intently. "I didn't want to have to do this..."

"Leave her alone, you...!" Rudy let out a scream when Bobby bobbed him hard on the head.

"Now that that little interruption is over..." Reggie glared at Rudy and then turned back to Penny. "I will make you an offer, Sanchez. Tell me what I want to know, and I will let you and Tabootie go. If you don't, I will be forced to resort to more drastic measures."

Penny widened her eyes at this for a few seconds. In those moments, Reggie thought that maybe she would do the right thing and tell him. But instead she just frowned again and looked away. "No." She said simply, and went silent.

Reggie wasn't really too surprised by this. These two had already proven that they were stubborn. If that's the case, then he really did have no choice. If they weren't going to listen to reason, and if his previous attacks on them weren't working, it was time to bring out a much bigger gun, so to speak. He looked over at Harvey and Bobby, a glint in his eyes. They let out a whimper and cringed at this. Their eyes darted down to Rudy and Penny and then looked back them. They were clearly reluctant to continue hurting them, but they had no choice.

And he himself had no choice either. It was either this or this potential danger would still continue lurking out there somewhere. Just waiting to strike...

Reggie raised his hand up and he snapped his thick fingers. The sound nearly echoed on the walls. "Bite her."

Harvey nearly staggered at this. "Wh-What...?"

"You heard me." Reggie's voice grew dark. His eyes narrowed into slits. "Bite her..."

There was a stunned silence in the area. All four of the students before him had looks of horror on their faces. Although the expressions differed slightly, they all conveyed the same message. None of them could believe the order he had just given. Neither could he. But he did not relent, and he continued glaring at Harvey, pounding one fist against another, threatening him to do it.

Rudy struggled and tried to cry out. But with a wave of Reggie's hand, Bobby pinned him against the wall and silenced him, pressing his hand against his mouth. Rudy jerked his head from one side to the other, letting out muffled cries. He soon gave up and he watched helplessly as Harvey pinned Penny against the ground, using his body weight to hold her down.

Penny looked up at Harvey, her eyes wide in feare. "P-Please... don't do this..." She begged him.

Harvey stared down at her, his eyebrows raising in guilt and sadness. "I'm so sorry, Penny..."

"Get on with it!" Reggie barked. "And don't hold back! Really let her have it!"

Harvey's face paled at this and he looked down at Penny. A few hint of tears made themselves known in his eyes, and he gritted his teeth. He then pulled one of Penny's arms behind her back and hooked it there with his arm. He stared down at the skin of her arms. He looked down at Penny, looking into her terror-filled eyes.

"I'm sorry, Penny..." He whispered. Suddenly his jaws slammed against her arm, his teeth pressing against her flesh. Penny tried to scream, but Harvey handgagged her as well. She continued to let out loud, pained whimpers as Harvey's teeth began to penetrate her arm.

sss

"Welcome to my..." Skrawl's voice trailed off. "..my lair? No, too cheesy. To my...oh whatever! Just welcome!"

Skrawl growled at himself for botching that up. He had never welcomed another villain to his hide out before. He had met up with Craniac 4, yes, but not here. He just happened to run into him one day. This was the first time he had allowed another villain into his lair. It was only appropriate he welcomed it, but instead he slipped over his words.

Oh well, it didn't really matter anyway. The bird thing was on his side, so who cared if he screwed up his line? Right now, they had more important matters to discuss. Using his head to gesture, he proceeded to lead the memotrice deeper inside his lair.

As he walked further inside, he folded his arm behind his back, tilting his head back slightly. He couldn't help but smile to himself. This had been quite a success. After all that trouble, he had managed to come back with the memotrice. There was a problem here or there, but overall, they faired out quite well. A part of him was surprised, but the other had expected this, considering the memotrice's powers.

Along the way back here, they did run into some zoners that tried to stop them. The memotrice took immediate care of them, forcing the two zoners to fight each other over whatever made up memory the memotrice had given them. He had thought about asking what it was, but decided that it may be better off he didn't know. He might just give the memotrice a reason to alter his memory. That was something that he would much rather avoid.

The two of them continued to walk down the hallway slowly. The lights overhead moved along their bodies, casting long shadows behind them, making it look almost as if many individuals were trying to break in. But Skrawl knew better. Apparently a couple of his Beanie Boys did not. He smiled in amusement as some of them jumped to the side and let out a scream of shock. He watched one in particular who was up against a wall, staring at the shadows. Skrawl shook his head. What an idiot... Perhaps soon he should weed out the Beanie Boys again.

Soon, he and the memotrice reached their destination. They walked into his living room and headed towards the couch. He sat down on it and motioned for the memotrice to get beside him. The memotrice did so, jumping up on the couch and settling down on it as if it were some kind of hen ready to lay an egg. He tried to get that mental image out of his head.

"Before we start, I do need to ask you a quick question." Skrawl asked. He motioned his hand slowly towards the memotrice. "Can you speak?"

There was a prolonged silence from the creature. It stared at him in the eyes, its tail tapping against the couch like it were a cat. After a few moments, it finally gave an answer. It moved its head from side to side in a swift motion.

Skrawl frowned at this. He realized that this could be problematic. If this creature could not speak, then how were they going to properly communicate for the plan? If this creature had any thoughts of its own, he did see it beneficial to at least hear what it has to say. This won't be possible if the creature couldn't speak. But then again, the creature could understand what he was saying. Perhaps a series of 'yes' and 'no' questions would work. Yes, he could do that. But just which ones should he ask?

He paused for a moment to consider the questions, as well as anything else he was going to tell it. He needed to make sure he explained everything and that the creature understood exactly what he wanted. He also needed to make sure that the creature was all for this and to provide something that could benefit it in some way. He knew the creature would want something in return for helping him.

Fortunately, he believed he knew exactly what it wanted.

"I guess you would be wondering why I want your help." Skrawl asked. The memotrice nodded its head once. "Well I am so glad you asked." He tapped his claw tips together, a small smile spreading across his face. "You see, as I told you before, I have this...problem. A couple of annoying pests who will not get out of my way so I can take over ChalkZone. I have tried a few times and I always fail because of this stupid brats." He clutched his fist tightly and growled, recalling those rather embarrassing defeats. He quickly relaxed himself and he motioned towards him. "That...is where you come in, my fine feathered friend..."

The memotrice watched him curiously. Its eyes were narrowed and it gave off an expression that told Skrawl it wanted him to get on with it. Yeah, he was repeating himself a little, but he felt the need to make sure the memotrice still recalled what he had said.

"I am quite aware of your powers. The ability to alter memories..." He held his hand up and flexed his claws outward at this. "Yes...that is a fine ability. Simple, yet powerful." He leaned in a little closer, staring straight into the memotrice's eyes. His smile grew slightly twisted. "With it, I can be assured of my victory. You will be able to help me achieve my dream of total takeover."

The memotrice turned its head to the side. It gave a quizzical squawk. Skrawl stared at it for a few moments, wondering what it was saying. He took a guess.

"You walking about if I want you to go after those three?" Skrawl watched as the memotrice nodded its head. Skrawl moved its hand out in front of him and waved it a couple of times. "Oh no, no. I have something better in mind." He got up from the couch. He motioned with his claw. "Come here. I will show you."

The two headed out of the living room, in the opposite direction than they had first came. Down the hallway they went, which curved around a little before going in a straight line again. There was nothing in the hallway except for some lights. Up ahead was a double door. It took them only moments to reach it. He grabbed the door and he pushed it open. He listened to creak as the doors swung open, moving back slightly from the force.

They were now in a large, dome-shaped room made out of smooth material. He wasn't sure what it was. Metal or smoothed out rock or something. He and the memotrice stood on a higher platform, which had a stretched circular ledge jetting out while the edges curved inward, forming points almost like fangs or something. A railing kept him from accidentally falling down.

Down below, he could see the flat, almost angular floor. It was covered with several lines that criss crossed each other, each of them looking a little black in color. A couple rows of lights that stretched around in a circle helped to illuminate the room, casting light and shadow all over. Despite the whole room being silver in color, it almost looked pretty with the lights and shadows like that. Some interesting shapes had been formed thanks to his and the memotrice's presence, and as they moved, it almost looked like these lights and shadows were dancing.

He and the memotrice took position on the rounded, stretched platform. In front of them were a couple of control panels. They were raised up and rectangular, but also curved like a circle. Skrawl positioned himself right between them. He placed his fingers across each other, stretched and cracked them. He reached down and began to push some of the buttons.

Down below, the black lines began to glow green. Slowly, they began to move. They began to raise up from the ground, morphing and twisting around, forming something new. They became wavy and jagged and wavey and round. They continued to move around like this, rapidly transforming into something large and almost rocky in appearance. Soon it formed into the shape of what appeared to be a cave of some kind. Then a glowing white line of light began to move from the bottom to the top rapidly, spreading color throughout the shape, giving it solidness. In a matter of moments, the Chalk Mine had been virtually replicated. At least the outside of it.

"This is the Chalk Mine. It is where the magic chalk grows." Skrawl began to explain. "It is guarded by a giant named Biclops."

At this, with another push of the button, a virtual replica of Biclops formed.

"He does not let anyone except those three brats into the mines. He will drive away anyone else who dares try to enter."

A virtual image of a random zoner came up. The virtual Biclops let out a voiceless roar and chased after him. Only when the virtual zoner left did the replica giant relax and resume position in front of the entrance.

Skrawl narrowed his eyes. "He is the one who supplies chalk boy... Rudy Tabootie, I mean, with magic chalk." He looked over t the memotrice. He noticed its expression. "Ah you don't know what magic chalk is?" The memotrice shook its head. "Well it's a special type of chalk that only a human artist can use. It allows them to create things. Understand?" The memotrice nodded. "Good. Now moving on.." Skrawl turned his attention towards his front, glaring softly at the virtual image. "Biclops had once kept any creator out of the mines. This world used to be overrun with them, and he went out of his way to make sure that they no longer had access. You see..he hates most humans, with only Rudy and Penny as an exception. He gives them a steady rate of magic chalk, which they use to keep me from completing my plans..."

Skrawl curled his claws inward, forming a fist. He again found himself being flushed with memories he would rather forget. He ignored the temptation to ask for the memotrice's help with this and moved forward. He clared his throat and he motioned towards the giant.

"However, all this can go away if we remove one simple factor..."

With a brilliant flash of light, the Biclops image vanished from sight. There was a blip sound and then nothing. Skrawl turned his head towards the memotrice, giving it a twisted smile.

"If you know what I mean..."

The memotrice stared at him for a few moments and then back at where the image of Biclops had once been. It stared long and hard, as if trying to take all of this in. Its tail swished from side to side slowly, its narrowed eyes appearing to comprehend what he had just told it.

When the memotrice nodded, Skrawl smiled. "Good you understand then..." Skrawl turned his head and stared down at the virtual image of the Chalk Mine. "If this place were cut off, then I would be able to force the boy to run out of chalk. Then he would be mine..." He smiled at the delicious thought of driving his claws into the wretched boy's stomach. The sharp stings of pain would be worth it. "Then his friends will be next..." He looked back at the memotrice. "Then nothing will stop me!"

Skrawl chuckled as he walked away from the platform. He moved down to about halfway on the long ledge before he stopped, standing on one leg and folded his limbs behind his back. He stared up towards the ceiling.

Oh yes, he could smell a beautiful partnership with this creature. He could smell the victory. He could smell justice. It was all coming into his grasp now. He could almost taste it. Things were going to be quite different now. With this memotrice at his side, nothing was going to be able to stop him. He smiled at the thought of what the brainwashed Biclops would do to them. Perhaps he would even take care of the problem for him...

No, he would rather he do the dirty work. He had waited for this moment for a very long time. He did not want Biclops to do much damage to the three. Just keep them out. He wanted to be the one to rip them open. He wanted to be the one to snuff them out. He wanted to be the one to look into their eyes and smile as they squirmed in their own blood.

He shook his head, snapping himself back to attention as he realized that the memotrice was staring at him in confusion. He quickly cleared his throat and turned around to face the reptilian bird creature.

"Using your powers, you can alter the giant's mind. You could make him think that Rudy was just like the other creators of the past. You could make him believe that Rudy betrayed him. You can make him want to keep Rudy and his friends out of the Chalk Mine." Skrawl raised his finger up. "And that would cut off his chalk supply, and when it runs out.." He took a step forward, clenching his claws in an ark, and sweeped upward, almost as if to bowl. "..then I will sweep in and take care of that little brat myself...!" He growled through clenched teeth.

The memotrice tilted its head from side to side. It moved its wing outward and gave a questioning chirp.

"You want to know what's it in for you?" Skrawl asked. At the creature's nod, he said, "Yeah I figured you wouldn't do this for free. I anticipated this." He started to walk towards the creature slowly, his head tilting down and his smile spread. "I know what I can offer you..."

The memotrice took a few steps back as Skrawl walked towards it. It continued to look up at him expectantly. It gave a couple more chirps, waiting for him to continue. Skrawl couldn't help but smile twistedly at this, staring into his eyes. He knew how to reel it in even further.

"I'm sure freedom isn't enough for you. You had freedom before. And you got a chance for revenge against those guards." Skrawl pointed out. The memotrice nodded its head once, showing that it acknowledged what he was saying. "Well then... how about your own personal slave...?" He folded his arms behind his back, giving a knowing smile to the creature. "Someone with which to toy with, to test your powers on, someone who will be there waiting on you hand and food. Someone too..."

The memotrice shook its head.

"What? No?" Skrawl tilted his head to one side. "Hmm I thought you would have liked that..." At the creature's nod, he added, "Oh you do want that? But something else too?" The memotrice nodded its head. Skrawl scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm.. Then how about free reign? Under my rule, you will be allowed to do whatever you want. You can even rule beside me." He placed his hand against his chest. "All of ChalkZone will be at your disposal..."

He took a few steps towards the memotrice. The bird creature just watched him in silence, its brown eyes filled with curiosity and temptation. Skrawl knew that he had captured the creature's interest with his offer. Whether or not it really wanted to rule ChalkZone did not really matter. So long as it helped him achieve what he wanted, nothing else really mattered to him.

Of course, he would have to make sure he gave this creature what it wanted. He knew the consequences if this 'friendship' ended prematurely. He would rather not be on the receiving end of this creature's powers. He was lucky so far that the creature was willing to listen to him, but he knew that was only because he was trying to offer it something that it wanted. However, regardless of the risk, he did not regret making an alliance with this beast.

"Does that sound like a good deal?" Skrawl asked after a bit of silence.

The memotrice appeared to rub its throat in a thoughtful manner, its head lowered and eyes narrowed slightly. Skrawl kept silent and waited for it to make its decision. The memotrice soon turned its head back to him and it nodded its head, causing Skrawl to smile. But then it shook its head, confusing and somewhat angering him.

"What?! I just gave you the offer of a lifetime! How could you..."

Skrawl quickly stopped himself, realizing what he had almost done. He cleared his throat and he took a smell step back. He made an effort to try to assume a less aggressive posture, making himself appear less threatening to the creature.

"I mean..." Skrawl said, forcing himself to smile. "I am just surprised you want more."

The memotrice didn't seem to pay attention to his previously aggressiveness. It waved its wing in front of itself, giving a couple of squawks. It was trying to tell him something, but unfortunately, Skrawl was not able to understand him.

"Do you want something else?" Skrawl asked, taking a shot in the dark. The memotrice nodded its head swiftly. "All right then... What do you want?" The memotrice let out a couple of squawks at him. After a couple of moments of trying to figure it out, he waved his hands in front of him. "Okay okay, hold on!" He paused for a few moments, trying to think of something they could do. "We need a way for you to communicate..."

There was no way they could continue on like this. He thought that 'yes' and 'no' questions, as well as explaining exactly what he wanted, would have been good enough. It was clear that, for this partnership to work, he was going to need a better way to communicate with the memotrice. Otherwise, he risked letting it fall apart. He could already imagine all sorts of ways for this plan to be screwed up if they weren't able to communicate more efficiently.

Soon something came to his mind. There was something that might work. He hadn't thought to use it before. Now seemed like a good time to try it out and see if this invention of his worked. He was going to use it in one of his past schemes, but had decided it was useless. He was glad that he had remembered to place it in storage instead of just tossing it out.

"Come with me." Skrawl told the memotrice. "I believe I know a solution to our little problem..."

With that, the two of them proceeded to walk down the hallway.

sss

Mrs. Sanchez looked down at the clock. She narrowed her eyes in concern. Where could Rudy and Penny be? She had thought that they went back inside to talk to the teachers about something, or maybe finish some extra work. But they shouldn't have been gone this long. There was no way they would take half an hour to come out, not without telling her anything that is.

This was odd behavior from both of them. Sure Rudy wasn't always so punctual and he did disappear for hours, but never when it came to school. He wasn't that irresponsible. And Penny, definitely not. If they had needed to stay longer, they would have both tried to tell her. Neither of them gave any indication that they had wanted to stay longer. In fact, both looked eager to go home. So the very fact that neither of them had come out yet... Something was going on.

She had thought about remaining in the car and just waiting, hoping that they would show up. But she got tired of waiting. She had given them more than enough time. Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she opened the door to her car and stepped out. After she shut it, she started to walk towards the school.

She did not notice anyone coming out of the doors. No movements to indicate any students. Most of them had left. She was probably the only parent left in the premises. And even some of the teachers had started to leave as well. Even though she didn't step inside of the school, it was feeling quite empty. Regardless, she continued on her way towards the school, heading straight toward the steps that led up into the building itself.

She kept her eyes glued to the door as she moved. A part of her constantly expected the two children to show up. A few times, she thought she saw movement, only to realize she was mistaken. A part of her had a feeling that she was not going to see them coming out of those doors any time soon. Regardless, she still stared at the doors, her eyes scanning from side to side for any sign of them coming out. For all she knew, they might be coming to the doors right now and she would bump into them as soon as she got onto the top step.

She hoped they had a good reason for staying in for so long. She was certain they did, but that didn't stop her from feeling frustrated about the whole thing. She had animals to take care of for crying out loud. And Penny knew this, too. Those animals needed constant care, and she had to bring the animals she brought with back home to be fed and given water. They couldn't sit in the back of her vehicle waiting in those crates for too long. She was most disappointed in Penny. Surely she would have understood this importance. Rudy should have known this as well. After all, he had come over a few times with Penny and even helped out.

They were both going to be in so much trouble when she found them. Even if they were working on something important, that was no excuse not to come to her and tell her that they needed more time. It would have taken only a few minutes. And if it was Mr. Wilter who had held them back, she was going to give him a stern talking to as well.

She was running a business at home. Many people counted on her skills to help their animals. She could not stay away for very long. Someone might notice the animals and the commotion they would be causing due to lack of food, and they might think the animals were being neglected. They could call the authorities on her and her reputation may be ruined. This may end up cutting off the only source of income that she and her daughter had. She would make that very clear to Mr. Wilter, should he be the one responsible for how late the two children were.

When she got closer, she began to hear something. She stopped and looked over to the side of the building. She couldn't discern what the noise was at first. She took a few steps closer, trying to be as quiet as she could.

Then she heard it again. This time it was louder and more clear. It sounded like a thud, as if someone were striking the ground. Strange... Could one of the students be throwing rocks at the wall? No, these didn't sound like rocks. Something was quite...off about them. She couldn't figure out just what that was yet. She continued moving in quietly, keeping her body a little hunched.

Then she heard another sound. Another thud, but this time, it was intermixed with something. She couldn't quite figure out what this other sound was. It was somewhat low and shaky. Not enough information for her to properly identify it. For all she knew, it could just be a disgruntled growl. Perhaps there was some kind of disagreement with someone there. Perhaps some of the students had stayed behind and were trying to discuss something. A rather odd thing, but she knew some of the students could just walk home. These might be just a couple of those students.

Another sound graced her ears. Something kind of wet and sloshy almost. It was very quick, and mostly fainted. Yet she was still able to notice it. Perhaps whoever was over there had spilled something. No, not spilled... It was more like they squeezed something and it just popped open. Were they squeezing some kind of fruit? No, this sounded different than fruit. What was...

Suddenly she heard a loud cry. Her eyes bulged open as she recognized that voice. She immediately rushed over as quickly as she could. She rounded the steps and moved along to the side of the building. What she saw caused her to let out a scream.

Both her daughter and Rudy were pinned to the ground. They appeared to be struggling, kicking her legs out at their captors. Two students, neither of which she personally knew the name of, had a hold of them. They both had their teeth set on their arms and blood was being drawn. They froze, looking up at her with wide eyes.

Mrs. Sanchez breathed in and out quickly as she looked the two children up and down. They looked absolutely horrible. In addition to being bitten, she could see other bite marks as well. Deep bruises and bloody tooth marks adorned both of their arms. It was a gruesome sight to behold, yet she found it difficult to look away. She also noticed the other injuries as well. The various other bruises, the scrapes and cuts, swelling in a few spots, their clothes dirtied and slightly torn. And both wore a horrified, pleading expression.

Mrs. Sanchez's mind raced with thoughts, her eyes widening, her pupils shrinking. She opened her mouth and she breathed in swiftly. She could feel her heart pound against her chest, a cold sensation moving through her body. The emotion continued to rise inside of her, making her feel sick.

"I-I can explain..."

She turned her head and she could see Reggie standing there. He was positioned a little ways in front of where Rudy and Penny were pinned down. It took her only seconds to realize that he was the one ringleader of this. As soon as this clicked in her mind, she narrowed her eyes, a burning sensation starting to rise in her stomach. Her body began to quake.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Mrs. Sanchez shouted, towering over Reggie. "What are you doing to them?!"

Reggie took a few steps back. The other two children, obviously too frightened to want to face an enraged mother, immediately took off running. Reggie tried to get them to come back, calling them cowards for leaving. He then turned back to Mrs. Sanchez and raised his hands out in front of himself defensively.

"Please, I..." Reggie started to say.

Mrs. Sanchez reached out and she grabbed him by the arm. Reggie let out a yelp of pain, but in the moment, she didn't care. She twisted his arm roughly and pulled him until she was at his side. She glared down at him. She struggled with the urge to strike the child. It was not her place to punish him. She would allow his father deal with him.

She looked down at Rudy and Penny. At this point, they had sat up and leaned against the wall. She could see the looks of fear in their eyes, how they were trying to comfort each other, how they were crying. The sight of it broke her heart. She fould feel a few tears forming in her eyes. She wanted so much to drop down on her knees and pull them into a hug and tell them it was going to be all right. She wanted to take them to her place and treat their wounds and help them feel better.

She glared down at Reggie. But first, she needed to take care of this little brat. She was so tempted to punch him in the face. Nobody hurt her daughter and got away with it. No one... Not even another child like this one. But she knew what would happen if she were caught attacking a child. She was not stupid. Even if she had good reason, she would land herself in jail if she struck him. Instead, she opted to keep him there as she reached out for her cellphone.

"What... What are you going to do...?" Reggie whimpered.

Mrs. Sanchez glared at him, showing him no sympathy as she twisted his arm again, making him wince. "I am calling your father..."

"What?" Reggie's eyes widened in horror. "N-No..please... Y-You don't understand...! I was only trying to..."

"Shut up!" She barked at him. Reggie cringed away from her, his body trembling. She did not care. "Be quiet while I get your father over here. You have a lot to answer for." She said coldly as she started to dial the number.

sss

"B-But dad...I.."

"Not another word from you, son! You're in a lot of trouble!"

"But if you would just listen, you..."

"I said shut up!"

Never before had Mr. Bullnerd been this angry at his said. Never before had Reggie done something this horrible or this cruel. He was used to his son beating up students for lunch money or whatever. He had gotten plenty of complaints about that.

But this... He never would have thought his son would have one this far. It was unbelievable... How could his son have done something like this? How could he have forced those two students to brutally attack Rudy and Penny? Because of him, both were going to need stitches and antibiotics. Mrs. Sanchez believes they will recover soon only if they were lucky and didn't get an infection from this.

He had seen the injuries himself. As soon as he got the call, he left to the school. A part of him didn't want to believe that it was true. He wanted to believe it was some sort of mistake. But when he got there and he saw those injuries, he knew that it had to be true. He could feel a part of himself break inside. This was far worse than anything else he had done. He knew that the punishment for this was going to be more dire than what they had been in the past. He knew what it was going to involve.

Before, his punishments were just getting rounded and having detention. Reggie got a lot of those. It was so common, he could almost set his watch to it. It was something that he was growing weary of, but he could no longer feel much anger towards it. Reggie was just a rebellious kid and while he could try to steer him in the right direction, he knew he wasn't going to be able to stop him from being his usual bossy self.

But this... This was going to require far more than just being grounded. There was no way that he was just going to get detention this time. Reggie had really crossed the line this time. The police might get involved and it would most certainly go on his permanent record. He would definitely get suspended, even expulsion. The only luck Reggie had on his side was his age; if he were old enough, he would have been arrested.

He had so much he wanted to say to his son. He wanted to yell at him. He wanted to explain to him how disappointed he is in his behavior. He wanted to do something to make sure that he never did something like this again.

That would need to wait. At the moment, they were on the way to the police station. It had taken him a little while to drag his son into the car. He had been resistant and he kept trying to explain himself. It was rather sickening that Reggie would try to justify his actions. He had heard the report. The principal had told him all about it. There was absolutely no excuse for why Reggie would gang up on two students like that, let alone have them get attacked. Reggie was in a lot of hot water right now, and no amoung of trying to squirm his way out was going to help him.

He was thankful that Reggie had kept quiet the rest of the way to the police station. While he knew the school had already called, he wanted to be there in person and speak to the officers. Not to squirm his son out of this, but to find an appropriate punishment. He knew that juvenile detention might not an option, but that wasn't what he was going for. Since Reggie did not respond to confinement-based punishment like detention, then perhaps something different would work better.

He could see the police station ahead now. He sped up slightly so they could get there quicker. He could hear Reggie let out a small whine and he could hear the leather of the car squeaking as he gripped it tightly. He paid it no mind as he pulled into the lot and shifted his stick into park. He unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door, and jumped out.

"Come on, Reggie." Mr. Bullnerd growled as he glared at his son. "Get out."

Reggie was clearly reluctant, and he opened his mouth to try to protest. Mr. Bullnerd folded his arms and let out a snarled growl. This caused Reggie to cringe and widen his eyes. He did not say another word as he hesitantly stepped out of the vehicle. With his head lowered, he approached his dad. He was not able to make eye contact with him. Mr. Bullnerd pressed his hand against the boy's back and pushed him towards the station's doors.

The two of them walked over, heading up the steps. He reached over and turned the doorknob. He walked inside and waited for his son. Reggie remained outside just outside the door. He stared at the station in worry and stared up his dad pleadingly. He shook his head a couple times and he tried to move back. Mr. Bullnerd would have none of it. He reached over, grabbed him, and pulled him into the station with him. He forced him away from the door, which he released and allowed to close.

"Ah, Mr. Bullnerd!"

Mr. Bullnerd and Reggie nearly jumped at that voice. After a second or two, they turned around to see where it was coming from. They soon could see Officer O'Larry coming their way. He had his hands in his pocket and his face wore a slightly surprised expression.

"Officer O'Larry." Stated Mr. Bullnerd quietly.

"What are you two doing here?" Asked Officer O'Larry. Considering why people usually go to police stations, the concerned look he gave next was not a surprise. "What happened?"

"My son here got into trouble in school." Mr. Bullnerd said, his teeth clenching.

Officer O'Larry rubbed his chin at this. "Oh? Another fight?"

Mr. Bullnerd nodded his head. "Worse than the usual ones." He glared down at his son. Reggie tapped his fingers together, hunched his back, and let out a small whimper. Mr. Bullnerd turned his attention back to the police officer. "I was wondering if I can hook Reggie up to a community service deal."

"Community service?!" Reggie wailed. "Father..I..." Mr. Bullnerd swung his head in Reggie's direction and glared icily. His son shrank under his glare and went quiet.

"Hmm...community service, eh?" Officer O'Larry asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "That is...different."

Mr. Bullnerd replied, "Yeah I know. My son hasn't exactly been the most cooperative boy, and this has been the final straw. I want to try something different and see if he will respond better to this." He casted a side glare down to the cringing Reggie. "He needs to be taught a lesson." He looked back at the officer. "I was hoping you had something that he could do."

Officer O'Larry paused for a moment. He frowned and lowered his head and thought about this. After a couple of seconds, he snapped his finger, leveling his eyes with the man in front of him. "You know, I think there is something! Come on," He waved his hand, gesturing for them to follow. "Come with me."

Reggie backed away, shaking his head. "No..please.."

"You went well past getting off the hook, Reginald." Mr. Bullnerd hissed. Reggie winced at his full name being stated like that. "You need to face the consequences of your actions. Now get going for I give you a reason to go."

Reggie widened his eyes. He quickly nodded his head and he moved down towards where Officer O'Larry went. Mr. Bullnerd glared at him and then he began to follow.

sss

Mrs. Sanchez winced as she stared at the wound before her. She held Rudy's arm gently, having it turned over so she could see the full extent of the damage. She bit her lip. Sometimes she forgot how strong and dangerous human teeth were. This provided a good reminder of that.

"Is he going to be okay...?" A cautious, feminine voice asked her.

Mrs. Sanchez turned her head to where Rudy's parents were sitting. They were looking at her, their eyes wide in fear and concern. She had already taken care of her daughter and did what she could. Now it was Rudy's turn.

She bit her lip and lowered her gaze a little. "He's not much better off, I'm afraid. The bite marks are quite deep." She peered a little closer to the arm. She nearly caught her breath when she noticed even more damage than she previously thought. "This... This is going to take a while to heal..."

"You can help him.. right?" Mr. Tabootie asked. He had his arm slung around his wife in a comforting manner. "He will be better soon?"

"If all goes well, yes." Mrs. Sanchez told him. "But like I said, it will still take a while." He looked down at Rudy, staring at him sympathetically. "I will do what I can to help him, but he is still going to need a trip to the hospital. As will my daughter. They need stitches."

"Can't you provide the stitching?" Suggested Mrs. Tabootie. "Wouldn't that be faster?"

Mrs. Sanchez shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't do that legally. Only a doctor can apply sutures. I can give them a liquid adhesive to protect the wounds, but they will have to go to the hospital for the actual stitches."

"That's stupid." Mrs. Tabootie growled. "You work with animals all the time. I'm sure you're more than qualified to add the damn stitches..."

Mrs. Sanchez looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about that." She looked back down at Rudy. "Now, let's clean up those wounds..."

She focused on the nastiest wound first. The one that needed the most attention. It was located in the middle of his arm, in the front center. There was quite a chunk taking out of it. It wasn't as deep as it could have been, but she could still see a bit of fat and muscle, which caused her to cringe. If only one would could be stitched, it would have to be this one. The sight of it sent chills down her spine. But thankfully she was able to regain her composure quickly, the result of having worked with many animal wounds in the past.

She started by reaching over towards a nearby cabinet and grabbing the supplies she had gotten out for Penny earlier. Her daughter watched her apprehensively, biting her lip, as she went to work on treating her friend. She did feel sorry for Penny. It was one thing to have herself get treated, but it was another to watch her friend, with just as serious of injuries, get treated as well.

"I promise I will be gentle." She whispered to them both. Despite her assurances, both still looked worried. She could not blame them, since it was still going to sting. All she could do was try to be gentle and not let it hurt as much. Grabbing a cloth, she began to proceed.

She turned the faucet on and allowed lukewarm water to coat the cloth. She squeezed the cloth to get rid of excess water. She then coated it with a thin layer of liquid soap. She rubbed it all in and then she began to apply it to Rudy's wound. Despite her best efforts to be gentle, Rudy let out a yelp of pain as the stinging soap touched his wound. His body gave a quiver and he shut his eyes tightly. She wanted to comfort him, but she had to get this wound cleaned first. Despite his whimpering, she continued to clean the open wound.

The boy's parents looked on in worry. They wanted to come over and try to help him, but they kept their distance, not wanting to get in the way of the procedure. All they could do was try to provide comfort from where they were.

"It is okay, Rudy." Mr. Tabootie said. "She is just helping you. Shhh.. It's all right."

"Try to be brave. It'll be over before you know it." Cooed Mrs. Tabootie.

Mrs. Sanchez rubbed the wound carefully, making sure the antibacterial soap had a chance to clean the wound. "You're doing fine, Rudy." She said to him gently. "Just hold still..."

Rudy didn't respond. She noticed how tightly his jaws were clenched. He must be trying so hard not to scream, trying everything in his power to hold still. She had to admire him for his bravery. This was certainly not something many people can sit quietly for for long.

Soon she was finished cleaning the wound this way. She removed the cloth and dropped it at the table beside her. Rudy let out a sigh of relief. Mrs. Sanchez looked at him sympathetically. She would be glad to tell him it was over, but there was still a little more to do. She reached over and grabbed a dry cloth and first dabbed the wound gently with it, trying to get the moisture off his arm. Then she grabbed the disinfectant spray and held it to his arm. The boy's eyes widened at this and he turned his head away. She paused for a moment and then she sprayed.

Rudy let out a few yelps of pain as she sprayed the arm a couple of times. She made sure each spray was short, only a couple of seconds. She went along the wound from one end to the other. Thankfully this part of the cleaning took the least amount of time. She set the bottle down, listening to the boy give a hiss of relief. She then grabbed onto a small bottle of liquid adhesive. She looked down at the wound and she pressed the tip against the beginning of the injury.

"It's all right, Rudy." She said softly. "I'm almost done."

She gently squeezed the bottle and proceeded to move it along the open wound. She slowly coated it in the liquid adhesive. Once she was done, she set the bottle down and held Rudy's arm still while the adhesive hardened. She waited a couple minutes just to be sure. She pressed her finger very lightly against the wound. Rudy gave a hiss and stiffened. She pulled her finger away and looked at him with an apologetic expression.

"I needed to make sure it hardened. I'm sorry." Mrs. Sanchez turned and got out a cloth bandage. "Just to be safe..." Just like she had with her daughter, she carefully wrapped the wound in the bandage. She made sure it was tight and secure. "You will need to wear this until you get to the doctor. We don't want you or Penny risking infection."

Rudy looked at his arm. He looked up at her and he gave a small smile. "Th-Thank you.."

Mrs. Sanchez smiled back. Then she gave a soft frown, a look that told Rudy immediately that things weren't quite over yet. "Now let's see those other wounds..."

sss

Skrawl fitted the thin, metal collar around the beast's neck. It clicked into place. The four crystal lights instantly glowed, spreading a small luminanescence throughout the device. He took a few steps back and watched as the glow spread throughout the creature's body. After a few moments, it stopped, and the creature's body soon relaxed, as if exhausted.

He waited for a few moments. He had no idea of this invention of his was going to work or not. He had never tried it out before. And at the moment, he could not remember why he had invented it. His mind was focused on the memotrice, waiting and hoping that it was going to work. He crossed his fingers and stared intently. The memotrice twitched a few times, swaying from one side to the other. Soon it stopped and stared at him.

The silence that followed was tense. Skrawl kept on holding his breath and waiting. This invention could go either way. It may work and do as it was intended, or it may blow up. Then he'd lose his new partner and all this would have been for not.

Please...let it work... Please...

After what felt like several minutes, the memotrice shook its head and took a step forward. It hadn't tried out the invention yet, but at least it didn't blow up in its face. It moved in closer to him, its eyes level with him, watching him carefully. Skrawl tensed up as he watched it move ever closer to him, the collar continuing to glow, feeling as though it was increasing in brightness. It soon stopped and stood right in front of him.

After a few moments of silence, Skrawl took a small step forward and held his hand out. "Well...?"

There were a few more seconds of silence. The memotrice shook its head and body, raised up its foot and scratched itself behind its head. It then looked back up at him, its brown eyes glinting slightly. Its beak stretched into a small smile. Then Skrawl felt something crawl in the back of his mind and then he heard the voice.

(Yes.)

Skrawl reeled at this. His eyes widened in shock for a few moments. Then his mouth twisted upward in a smile. The invention worked. Perfect... Now that the memotrice could properly communicate with him, they could begin to move on with the plan.

Oh that's right. He needed to speak to it further about what it wanted. He could not neglect this. Not as long as he wanted the memotrice to be his partner. So long as he kept it satisfied, there would be no reason for it to turn against him. Or at least..he hoped that would be the case. Skrawl knew the huge risk he was taking. But for the rewards at the end, he knew it would be worth it.

He moved a little closer to the memotrice. "All right then. You seemed satisfied somewhat with my offer before, right?"

(Indeed.)

"Okay, but there's something else that you want?" Skrawl asked, making a few gestures with his hand. "You didn't seem completely satisfied with what I had to offer."

The memotrice nodded its head. (That is correct. I want something else.) It moved its head from one side to the other, its tail wriggling around excitedly. (Something that I hope you can provide for me. I can help you get it.)

Skrawl raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Oh? And what would that be...?"

The memotrice stared at him for a few moments. Silence spread through the room. It then lowered its body down, its claws tapping against the ground. It then leaped over at him. Skrawl did not have time to react before the memotrice slammed him against the ground. He yelped in pain as his back hit against the hard surface. He felt the creature's full weight on him. It was surprisingly heavy for its size. After a cough, Skrawl looked up at the creature, gritting his teeth.

The memotrice was stairing right at him. Those eyes, filled with so much intent... They continued to stare down at him, boring through his body. Skrawl felt his body freeze underneath the memotrice's stare. He could feel his body fill with waves of fear and anger, his mind in inner turmoil of what to do. Should he hold still or fight?

It continued stare at him, its beak gritted, its talons pressing against his body. Skrawl could feel his mind swimming as he watched the creature. He started to feel a pang of regret as he laid there, pinned down by the beast. He had anticipated something like this might have happened, but now there was little he could do. He couldn't even raise his hand up to strike, out of fear that the beast may use its powers on him. All he could do was there and glare up at the creature, doing his best to hide his fear, and hoping that it wasn't going to do anything serious.

Suddenly, the memotrice reached out and grabbed onto one of his antennas. Skrawl let out at yelp as he was yanked forward by the creature's wing claws, which had been hidden before underneath those feathers. The memotrice put its face and beak near his, those brown eyes having that brown-red glow from before. It narrowed its eyes and its beak twisted up, giving off a horrid expression of furious determination.

(I want you to help me bring in my...) The memotrice paused for a moment. It slipped out its long, pointed tongue, and moved it across its lips almost hungrily. (...weapons...)

Skrawl narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Weapons?"

The memotrice nodded its head. (You did not think that my creator only meant to erase me, did you?) It tilted its head to one side, spreading a smirk further on its face. (They are smarter than that. Unfortunately, she was not able to draw the weapons there.)

"Then where?" Asked Skrawl.

The memotrice shrugged its shoulders. (I do not know. We will have to figure that out.)

Skrawl wasn't sure he liked where this was going. He didn't want to sit here and wait for these weapons to appear, especially if this thing didn't know where they were going to appear. He didn't like the idea of wasting time searching around for these weapons when they could be planning their move now. They didn't need those weapons to proceed. All they needed was for him to brainwash Biclops and to cut Rudy's supply of chalk off. Why waste time on these weapons?

Then again...what if these weapons come in handy? He didn't even know what they could do. Who knows? They might be just the thing that he needed to secure his victory. And besides, he did not want to know what would happen if he flat out refused to help the memotrice with this.

"All right then.. I will help you find them." Skrawl said. The memotrice smiled at this and backed up from him, allowing him to get up. Skrawl climbed up to his feet and brushed himself off. "I will send my Beanie Boys out and find these weapons." He paused for a moment and then he stared down at him. "That is, if you are able to describe them to me."

The memotrice nodded its head. (I will gladly do that.) It swung its wing out towards him, its claws glinting in the light. (They will be a set of swords, each one with a different color and a different gem attached to it. Each will have a different power. They can be detected with heat signature devices, as they are warm.)

"Swords, eh? With different abilities..." Skrawl chuckled. "I like the sound of that."

(Indeed you would. They are truly a marvel.) The memotrice raised its head up, fluffing its feathers in pride. (They are to be a part of me. They meld into my body and I can spring them out whenever I want to.)

Skrawl scratched his chin thoughtfully at this. He tried to imagine this in his head. It was a little tricky to be honest. He had never seen something like that in ChalkZone before. Then again, he hadn't been in ChalkZone long. Perhaps some creator in the past had thought this up.

He had to wonder what those different powers were. What kind of abilities could these things have, and just how good were they at combating others? Would they be enough to stop Rudy and his blasted friends should they find a way around the to-be-brainwashed Biclops? Did they have any weaknesses, and if they did, what were they? There were a number of questions he needed to ask about this before they proceeded.

He decided to ask now. "What are the powers?"

(That I cannot answer in full. But I can tell you a couple.) The memotrice gestured with its wing. (Two of them had Gravity and Dimension powers, respectively.)

"You don't say..."

(There are three more powers were that came from. I do not know what they are, though. My creator could not think of them yet.)

Skrawl nodded his head slowly. He couldn't really fault the reptilian bird for not knowing. Even if its creator did get over her slump and finish, since the memotrice was already erased, there was no way for it to know what its creator was thinking. The only way to find out what those three other powers were was to find those weapons and fast.

That is, if they had been erased. Skrawl gritted his teeth in frustration. Things were erased in ChalkZone all the time, so creating a machine to tell him this was not going to be helpful. He could try going to over to Craniac 4 and see if he would let him use that machine of his, but it was only geared towards futuristic items. What the memotrice described was fantasy-based. And even if he could get that blasted robot's machine to work on fantasy items, there were still many things erased in that genre. It would take forever to sift through and find them.

Oh well, they had time. And he had lots of Beanie Boys. He could spread them out and have them keep searching around. Not like many of the zoners would try to stop them. The Beanie Boys hardly scared anyone in ChalkZone; it was only when they were found with him that zoners began to worry. So no one was going to try to stop them as they search for the swords. And from how stupid many of the zoners were, they wouldn't really notice they were dangerous and see little reason to get worked up about them.

"So, are you ready to take on Biclops?" Skrawl asked as he motioned towards the creature. "It will be wise to take care of the big guy first and weaken the 'Great Creator'. Otherwise, he is going to be a pain in my neck as well as yours."

(I have heard about him. I have not yet met him.) The memotrice tilted its head. (I do look forward to meeting him.)

Skrawl chuckled bitterly at this. "Of course you would..."

(I'm sure he isn't as hard to beat as you say he is.) The memotrice stated, causing Skrawl to widen his eyes slightly. (Perhaps you just didn't use the right strategy.)

Skrawl gritted his teeth, feeling his blood heading up. He nearly snapped at the bird zoner before he managed to stop himself. He forced out an exhale, feeling himself calming down. He decided to just ignore the memotrice's comment and move forward with the plan. "Ready to proceed?"

(You want me to take care of him this early?) The memotrice questioned.

Skrawl formed a fist with his hand. "Well of course I do!" He said through clenched teeth. "The whole point was to get him out of the way quickly so that Rudy Tabootie and his girl friend are weakened!"

The memotrice nodded its head. (Ah I see. Well okay then. I will do this for you." The memotrice took a few steps forward. It glared intently at him. (Then you will help me get what I want...)

Skrawl nodded his head in agreement. "You will have your swords back. I can promise you that." He tilted his head back and he smiled up towards the ceiling, thinking about the glorious victory ahead of him. "Then we will be the rulers of ChalkZone." He gave the bird a sideways glance. "No one will ever try to lock us away again."

The memotrice nodded in agreement. It walked over towards him, joining him at his side. (Oh and I do have a request...)

"Oh? What is it?"

The memotrice raised an eyebrow and gave a smirk. (Call me Thoughtless.)


	6. Twisting

Rudy found it difficult to stop shaking. No matter how hard he tried, it just seemed to get worse and worse. He could feel his teeth chattering, the clicking sound appearing to get louder as time passed by. He constantly looked left and right, as if he thought he was going to be attacked at any given point. He just could not relax, and after what happened to him, who could blame him?

He had been assaulted by Reggie. Okay not by him directly. But he was the one giving those orders. He was the one who orchestrated the attacks. He was the one who had them trapped and cornered and made those students do those horrible things. Never before had Reggie done something like that, a fact that left Rudy feeling quite frightened and confused. What could possess Reggie do to that?

Well he did know it had to do with that glow he had seen. This worried Rudy. How could that bully had seen the light? He and Penny had been so careful, and it was such broad daylight out that there wouldn't have been enough shadow and...

...except there had been some cloudiness when he and Penny had come out. That must have casted enough shadow that even the dim light of a portal in daylight could be easily seen. He gritted his teeth, feeling his gut twist. If that were the case, then there was little way they could have avoided this. There was just no way that he could have opened up a tiny portal to see if anyone was watching. Not at that angle. There would have been simply no way to tell when it was safe to come out. It was all a bargain.

It wasn't just the fact that Reggie saw the portal that had him concerned. He was worried about what he might do now. He hadn't seen Reggie since the incident and he was too scared to ask his parents what was going to happen to him. He guessed that he was going to get some form of punishment. Suspension for sure, so at least he won't have to see hi mfor a while. But that did little to help him feel better. After all, wouldn't Reggie want to get back at him?

There was no doubt in his mind that Reggie would find a way to seek vengeance on him. He would blame him for what happened, even though he and Penny did not do anything, even though it was Reggie himself who had done those terrible things that got him in trouble in the first place.

Rudy had a feeling that Reggie might be believing he's doing something right. He appeared to be convinced there was something dangerous about that glow, and him and Penny resisting was of course going to be offputting to him. But this very thing is what was going to make him so dangerous. He believed he was doing the right thing and he was not going to stop, not until he achieved his goal. How were he and the others going to handle this kind of threat?

It didn't help that Reggie was in the Real World, where magic chalk won't work. He can't just tie down Reggie and make him listen. He can't as easily defend himself from him. If Reggie decided to atack him physically, he could do a lot of damage. He had felt enough blows from that boy to know that his attacks would hurt worse than what Bobby and Harvey were forced to do.

Speaking of those two, he felt really bad for them. He wondered what was going to happen to them since they were involved, albeit unwillingly. He held no ill will against them, since they were forced into it. But he couldn't say the adults would have the same kind of sympathy for them. He could only hope that, whatever the punishment may be, that they would at least go easy on them.

Hee turned his mind back to Reggie. He bit his lip. He wondered how far that boy was going to go. Just how low was he willing to sink to in order to get what he wanted? He could feel his heart thump at the thought. He thought he had known Reggie's limits, then this happened... How much further could he possibly go?

He looked down at his arm and winced at the sight of the stitched gashes. Even with them treated, he could still feel the horrible sting spread through them. All five of the wounds, three on his right arm and two on his left arm, radiated in agony. Help from Penny's mom and the doctors did help out, but he was still tormented by the pain. He was tempted to clutch his arm to himself, but he would have to let go quickly. His arms were just too sore.

How he got them was just as horrible. He could still feel those teeth in his arms. He could still feel the flesh tear away from his body, that horrible, disgusting sound. He could feel a cold rush move through his body just thinking about it. He tried to get the images out of his head, but they just wouldn't leave him.

He couldn't believe that Reggie went that far. Punches and kicks were bad enough, but to get bitten...

That took a whole new level of low. That took a darker, more twisted mind. That took a darker intent. Biting was the worst non-weapon thing that could be done to another person. It was a line that most did not dare cross. And Reggie, through Bobby and Harvey, did just that. And he told them not to hold back, resulting in horrific bites that surely got some infection in them, and required deep cleaning and stitching.

To make it worse, Penny got bitten too. Even more so than him. Sure it was just one extra bite, but it was on her right arm, dealing more damage to it than his own. And Penny was right-handed; those bites were going to cause her more problems than what he knew would happen to him. His gut twisted at the thought of Penny suffering because of Reggie. She... She didn't do anything to deserve that. How could Reggie have done this?

He could feel his blood heating up. It was bad enough that Reggie had hurt him for no good reason. But did he really have to go around hurting Penny, too? What the fuck did she ever do to him? He could have been much more civil about this, but instead he chose this rather morbid path. At least he was getting punished for it.

He tried to shake thoughts of Reggie out of his mind as he turned his head towards the chalkboard. He fidgeted with his feet as he tried to think of how he was going to tell Snap. He had been home rather late due to the doctor's visit and the extra cleaning and the stitching... Snap was going to be wondering where he was, and he felt bad for remaining out even longer. He wasn't meaning to do this, but he just... He needed time to figure out how he was going to tell him.

This was worse than the other times he got attacked by Reggie. Oh so much worse... How was Snap going to react? He was worried that he might try to get him to take him into the Real World, and confront Reggie himself. This could lead to more problems. His heart twisted at the idea of something happening, either to his friend or to make things worse. Things were bad enough already.

There was also the matter of using the magic chalk. The doctors didn't want him using his arms too much as they needed time to heal. Holding something right now hurt him because of the damage done to his arm. It would hurt him any time he tried to use the chalk. Just the mere act of drawing a circle would cause him pain.

But he knew he couldn't just sit here forever. He needed to get into ChalkZone and tell Snap of what happened. He deserved to know. He was his best friend after all. And he was Penny's friend as well. He would continue to feel worse the longer he hesitated to fight against the pain and draw the portal.

But it wasn't just that. There was also the matter of his parents.

Ever since the attack earlier today, they had been keeping a closer watch on him. He couldn't blame them, especially after what Reggie had done to him. But this also meant that it was going to be hard to slip into ChalkZone, as his parents may come up and try to talk to him.

He soon realized he only had one option. He would need to write a message to Snap and detail what happened. At least Snap was in ChalkZone and could not directly interact with the Real World. He won't try to squeeze his way through the portal to get at him or anything. And this would require no use of the magic chalk. Just simple, ordinary, everyday chalk would work just fine. He got up from the window sill and he made his way over.

Almost immediately he felt a rush of pain through his body. He stopped and he stumbled back. He held onto his stomach and he let out a sharp groan and whimper. This horrible whirlwind of pain that was giving him a headache and slightly blurred vision served as a reminder to him about how it hadn't been just his arms that were attacked.

He rubbed his stomach gently, remembering vividly how it was punched and kicked and stomped. The gentle apologies from Bobby did little to soothe the pain and the fear of what happened to him. His stomach had a little bit of bruising. Though the doctor believes that it wasn't as bad as it appeared, that did not comfort him all that much. The pain still ripped through him like a chainsaw.

His legs had been a little damaged as well. Some light bruises had formed in a few spots where he had been struck. He could still walk, but with a very slight limp. He was glad that Penny did not get attacked in the legs as much as he was. At least there was a little bit of pain that she had been spared.

Their folks hadn't noticed the damage to their legs at first. Adrenaline had been pumping through them and it looked as if there wasn't much, if any, damage there. It wasn't until the danger passed and they were at the doctors that the adrenaline's effects wore off and he and Penny could feel the pain there. This had alarmed their folks and they stayed at the doctors longer to ensure there weren't any other injuries they had missed.

He made his way over towards the chalkboard carefully. He took light, gentle steps, doing whatever he could not to put too much pressure on his injuries. He wasn't completely successful and a few times, he found himself suddenly lurching forward. He let out a few cries of pain as he struggled to keep himself from falling. He tried to hold out his arms for balance, only for him to experience a rush of pain and he stumbled even worse. As soon as he reached the chalkboard, he grabbed onto it and leaned against it for dear life.

For a few moments, he did not let go. He continued holding onto the chalkboard, gritting and seething through his teeth as he waited out the bouts of pain. It took a few moments before the pain slowly began to die down, and he started to relax.

He started to shiver again at this. A sickening feeling rose up inside of him. A haunting question continuously plagued him, forcing him to shut his eyes and try to endure the feeling of sickness eating away at him.

How was he going to be able to protect ChalkZone in this state? Skrawl was not stupid, and there were some rather intelligent zoners in ChalkZone as well. They would take full advantage of this and he knew it. This was not something he could just bounce back from; it would take some time. All it would take is for Skrawl to see him limp just once for him to know that now was a good time to scheme.

And with that memotrice on the loose...

He shook his head. He was wasting enough time as it is worrying about this. He needed to write that message to Snap now and let him know what happened. He and Penny would have to try going into ChalkZone later, when their parents were not at risk of hovering over their shoulder.

He managed to steady himself. He hissed as he still felt that continuous pain. He bit his tongue and tried to endure it the best he could. He reached over and he grabbed a piece of chalk. Trying to control his bouts of pain, he began to write a message for his friend. He took his time in spite of the pain, writing what he needed to, what he think Snap should know.

Once the message was finished, he drew a box around it to ensure it would remain in one piece. He then put the eraser next to it and he scrubbed it back and forth, obliterating the message from the board and allowing it to enter ChalkZone.

As soon as he was finished, he released the chalk and relaxed his arm. He felt an almost immediate sense of relief at this. He let out a soft sigh as he stared at the chalkboard. At least now, Snap was going to get the message.

sss

"Snap! Wait!" Called out Blocky as he reached for his friend. "Don't do this!"

Snap growled. He turned his head around and glared at Blocky, gritting his teeth tightly. "Don't do what, huh? Don't go help my best friend?!"

Blocky paused for a moment, taking in a few quick breaths. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing would come out. He just continued to stare Snap, wide-eyed. Soon, Rapsheeba, who was standing right there, placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded to him once. She then turned her eyes to Snap, frowning softly.

"There's nothing you can do about it right now, Snap." She said. Her voice was filled with reluctance. "You can't get into the Real World and you know that."

"I don't care." Snap growled. "I'll find a way..."

"Look, we know you're upset with Reggie..." Blocky froze when Snap glared daggers at him. He took a step back and he gulped. "B-But... Try to be rational about this. He is being taken care of as we speak, and Rudy and Penny are fine and..."

"They will let him off too easy because of his age." Snap narrowed his eyes further. He clutched his round hand into a fist. "He will not get the proper punishment that he deserves.. I can give it to him..."

Blocky could hardly recognize Snap. He had never been like this before. He had seen him angry, sure. But never to the point of wanting to out and do something like...like this.. It just wasn't like Snap. The fact that Reggie was dealing with the consequences should be enough for him. But no, Snap wasn't satisfied. He wanted more. Reggie's actions had pushed him over the edge, and he craved retribution. He was honestly shocked that his eyes weren't glowing red at this point.

After he had heard what happened, it was as though something broke something inside of him, and now he was a whole different person. He wasn't sure how much of the Snap he knew was still in there. He looked into his eyes and tried to find any sense of that sarcastic yet friendly zoner he had come to know and love. But there was nothing there except anger and hatred. There was no telling how far Snap was willing to go at this point.

He bit his lip and looked over at Rapsheeba with a concerned look. He could see, from the look on her face, she too was worried about him. He could see the fear in her eyes, the concern she had for her friend. She had tried earlier to calm him down, but her efforts failed. The fact that even Rapsheeba herself could not get Snap to stop sent more than enough red flags through Blocky's mind. This was more serious than anything they had seen with Snap before, and he knew what this may lead up to.

He thought back to when Reggie got his foot stuck in ChalkZone. At the time, he had only played with him. He didn't hurt him; only messed with him. He drove Reggie insane for quite a while, and even put on a show for some other zoners who enjoyed his antics.

But after this... What would Snap do if given the opportunity? Would he go as far as...hurt Reggie?

The thought chilled him, but he couldn't rule that out as a possibility. After all, Reggie had gone much further this time than ever before. He had used two lackeys to hurt his friends and went as far as have them bitten and chunks of flesh ripped out. They both had to go to the hospital to get stitched up, and they would need some time to recover. And all because he wanted information...

It was no wonder Snap was so furious. Not only did Reggie hurt his friends much worse than ever before, but he was now becoming a potential threat to ChalkZone. He recalled, with uncomfortabled chills, the last time he was in ChalkZone, how he had used the red chalk to spread chaos throughout the city. The only reason they got out of trouble then was because Rudy had been clever enough to trick Reggie out of ChalkZone and then fool him into believing it was a dream.

But now that Reggie was getting an inkling of its existence... What was going to happen? What would he do if he ever got back in? If he were furious enough at Rudy and Penny, how far would he go to get back at them? These questions and others troubled the scared rectangular zoner.

"Look, if you two don't want to come with me, that's fine." Snap growled as he narrowed his eyes. "But I'm going to see Biclops." He turned and began to stomp away. "I'm sure he has a way to get into the Real World. He has all that chalk, right?"

"Wait..!" Blocky cried out, reaching his hand towards him. "Come back! We..."

But it was useless. Despite his best efforts, Snap was no longer listening to him. He continued to walk away, leaving behind his confused and startled friends. Blocky was about to rush after him when Rapsheeba gripped his shoulder tighter and shook her head.

"Let him go." She said gently. "He needs some time alone." He looked after Snap with a worried expression. "He needs to cool down. Right now, he's too caught up in his rage to think properly. He will not listen to us, no matter what we say."

"I don't want to leave him alone..." Blocky whimpered. "He shouldn't go to Biclops like that..."

"I know. I want to stop him as much as you, but... There isn't much we can do while he's in that state. You and I both know that he can be quite strong when emotionally motivated enough." Rapsheeba stared at Blocky in the eyes, pulling him closer to try to comfort him. "Don't worry, though." She gave a gentle smile. "Biclops can keep him out of trouble."

Blocky lowered his head for a moment. He then looked out at towards where the blue zoner had run off to. "I hope you're right, Rapsheeba." He closed his eyes. "I hope you're right..."

sss

Biclops found it difficult to relax. Even slumped in his large, custom made couch, given to him by the Great Creator himself, he still couldn't calm himself down. He could feel his mind constantly ticking and working, sifting through many thoughts, unable to stop. He had been like this for a good hour, and he knew it wasn't going to stop any time soon.

On occassion, he would turn his head over to where the cave entrance was. He would see no one coming in, and he'd look away. But then he thought he'd see movement, causing him to look again. But just like all the other times, it was met with nothingness. He was alone in the cave, but he was just not able to relax. No matter how hard he tried, he just could not calm himself down, even if he reminded himself that he really was alone in this cave.

The lack of Rudy and Penny was troubling. Where could they be? He had been waiting for them for a while now. They should have left school by now, right? What could be keeping them? He recalled Rudy promising to meet him here after school. Did something happen? The thought filled him with dread.

The barrier between ChalkZone and the Real World meant that it would be really hard to communicate with him. Rudy could send notes to him, but he could not return them. And what if Rudy was not able to write notes? What would he do then?

He shook those thoughts out of his head. Right now, that didn't really matter. There was something else of more concern to him at the moment.

That darn memotrice was still out there. Despite zoners being sent out and looking for it and Skrawl, there was no report of anyone finding something. Not even a trace of the creature had been found, and they hadn't seen Skrawl either. Not seeing Skrawl was nothing unusual, but accompanied with a dangerous creature, it was really quite worrying.

Even more alerting was the fact that he didn't even get too many updates. He hardly had the television on and he did not dare leave the Chalk Mine alone. He was certain there was more information about the memotrice; he was just unaware of it. And that lack of knowledge, that ignorance, made him feel even more worried and concerned. He could feel his mind swimming with thoughts as he tried to imagine what else might be going on with that thing.

He tried to keep himself as relaxed as possible. Rudy Tabootie would come into contact with him eventually. If not today, then tomorrow. There was a bit of time. No way Skrawl could have gotten the memotrice already. Yes, he could try to relax a little and wait.

He heard a scraping sound. Biclops lifted up his head, his body tense. All other thoughts exited his mind as he looked left and right, trying to find the source of that sound. His large eyes scanned the cave carefully, his eyes narrowing. The scrape sound didn't come back, but he was certain he heard it. But..from where...?

There it was again, from above him. His eyes bulging, he tilted his head back, scanning the stalactites across the ceiling. He still couldn't see anything. There wasn't even a tiny bit of dust coming down to indicate anything was there. Not a single shadow moved along the walls. Just...nothing.

But that was impossible. He was certain he had heard something. He knew something was going on. He was certain of it. He gritted his teeth, pressing his nails against the couch. It might be something as harmless as a bird or tiny insect, but..he had to be sure. It was his duty to protect the Chalk Mine. He had to look for this...this thing, and make sure it doesn't cause any problems. Especially if it turned out to be the memotrice...

He froze at that. He felt his heart skip a beat. The memotrice... His mind flashed back to what he had been told before. Snap told him, he believed. The memotrice's powers were stronger against zoners who had a memory-based power. Which was exactly what he had...

He narrowed his eyes in determination. That just meant he was going to need be more diligent and careful. If he at least made it look as if he wasn't doing anything in particular, maybe the memotrice would think he was just wandering randomnly and therefore wasn't a threat. The beast may be able to alter memories, but it couldn't very well read minds, now could it? With that resolve in mind, he began to make his way through the Chalk Mine.

He could hear that sound again. It was getting a little louder now. Longer and more deliberate. Someone or something was in the Chalk Mine. He gritted his teeth. He would take care of this intruder in no time. If only he could figure out just where they were...

He continued to head down the tunnel. He recognized this particular tunnel. It was the same one that lead up to the red chalk chamber. His gut twisted at the memory. He soon shook his head and did his best to focus on the task at hand. He continued walking down the tunnel, listening to the scrape intently, trying to see just where this intruder had slipped off into. But no matter how loud the sound got, it only felt as though he was being moved further away.

Still, despite that, he kept on walking. Sooner or later, he would run into that intruder. This tunnel was a one-way. Soon the intruder would be boxed in, and he would be able to deal with them personally.

He did notice something stranged as he moved along the ground. Something that just felt...rather out of place. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Something with this ground.. It just felt strange and off. He couldn't tell why. He had walked along this ground so much, and he never thought anything of it. But now, for some odd reason, it just felt different. As if someone had changed it somehow. But that was impossible. It looked just the same. He could see the shapes on the walls, the colors. He could even feel the coldness even when he wasn't touching them. What was going on?

He tried to shake off his uneasiness and he continued to follow the noise. By now, it had gotten quite loud for scraping. He felt a shudder each time he heard it. Something with sharp claws was in here. He briefly thought of the memotrice, but he quickly shook his head. No, the scraping sound didn't mean it was here. Loads of zoners had claws. Perhaps it was Skrawl?

He narrowed his eyes. Of course. It must be Skrawl. He had invaded the mine before when he tried to coerce Penny to his side. Surely he would see reason to invade the mine a second time. Well if he wanted another fight, then he got it. This time, he was not going to be so merciful.

Then he saw it. A flash of green. An antenna. Claws.

Skrawl...

Biclops curled his lip back into a snarl. So, it was this guy again. He thought he taught him a lesson the last time he was here. Seemed like he didn't. He clenched his fists tightly and he began to rush down the tunnel, heading right for Skrawl.

The figure moved rather quickly. A little too quickly than he recall Skrawl could run. It mattered not. He was not going to get too far. Soon he was going to be cornered and he would make sure he never comes back in here again. Skrawl would rue the day he decided to mess with him. And most importantly, if he took care of him now, it would prevent him from getting the memotrice. ChalkZone would be safe.

With that hope in mind, he continued running, trying to go as quickly as he could. All he had to do was get within range of the little beast and strike him once. One single blow was all it was going to take to incapacitate Skrawl and he would be able to catch him. For the first time, Skrawl would be sent to jail for his crimes. Something that he knew many zoners would have loved to see. He would be hailed a hero.

He soon rounded a corner and he could see Skrawl there. He was standing in front of the dead end. The red chalk chamber doors had been left far behind. The jellybean had made a mistake not trying to go in there to hide and throw him off the trail. Oh well, at least his job had been made easier.

He began to approach Skrawl. He watched as he continuously tried to claw at the rock, trying to escape. What a pitiful sight... Didn't that jellybean know that those walls were too thick for this claws to go through? Did he not know there was absolutely no way out except where the direction he came from? Judging from his frantic searching, it didn't seem like he did.

"Stay right where you are." Biclops said, despite the fact Skrawl didn't have much of a choice anyway. "You are coming with me."

Skrawl didn't respond. In fact, he didn't even look at him. He just continued looking around frantically, desperately clawing at the wall, even biting it at one point. He did not do anything to even acknowledge him. Not even to try to gloat. Biclops narrowed his eyes. This was rather strange. Nonetheless, he continued to approach.

"For far too long, you had been a thorn in our side. I've had enough!" Biclopse seethed through clenched teeth. "I will make sure you never bother us again!"

With that, he rushed towards Skrawl, rapidly closing the space between them. He reached out with his fist and, with not an ounce of sympathy for the zoner that made all their lives so miserable, he struck out at him, his fist colliding with his body.

A child's scream sounded out.

Biclops stiffened at this. He stared at Skrawl, noticing his mouth was open. But... that's not the way Skrawl would scream. What was...?

Then the image began to flicker. Skrawl's body waved in and out like some kind of glitch. Then a new image showed up. Biclopse took a step back, shaking his head in horror. No... it wasn't possible... He...He couldn't have...

There laid Rudy Tabootie. He was sprawled against the wall, his mouth open and taking in ragged breaths. Blood pooled out of his mouth and nose. His eyes were bulged open in pain. He was looking at him. There was a flash of recognition in those eyes. Rudy was silently pleading with him, questioning him why he would do this. No matter how many times Biclops tried, the image before him never changed. This...This was happening...

Biclops could feel his heart race against his chest, his mind swirling with thoughts, his body shaking. He..He had just attacked the Great Creator... But...But how was that possible? He knew what he saw. It was Skrawl. It had to have been. Skrawl and Rudy looked nothing alike. When he struck, he knew it was Skrawl.

But...what was going on here then...? Why did Rudy suddenly get here? Did he dress himself up like Skrawl? No, that wouldn't be something that he'd do.

...would it..?

Gah, he couldn't think like that. He knew Rudy. He wouldn't do something so stupid. What reason could he possibly have to put on a Skrawl suit and invade the mines? Those two were clearly not allies. He had seen them together. He had seen them fought. He had seen the murder in Skrawl's eyes. There was no way those two would work together.

Then again... He did recall how he tried to make Penny work for him. And Penny was clearly loyal to Rudy. Skrawl had attempted the impossible before. Perhaps he had tried the same thing again and succeeded with Rudy?

No, impossible. He shook his head furiously a couple of times. He needed to stop thinking like this. He needed to stop fooling himself into thinking this of Rudy. He was an ally. The protector of ChalkZone. He would never do anything to deliberately put it in danger. Any time that he did, he would do what he can to correct it. After all he had seen of Rudy, there was absolutely nothing he saw that would make Rudy do something like this. It...It had to be a trap.

His eyes widened at that word.

A trap...

Had this been a trap...?

At that moment, the image of Rudy faded away in an almost pixelated manner. Zipping up into the air, disappearing into nothingness. The sight of it shocked him, causing him to take a step back. Before he could take another step, he felt himself touch against something cold and hard. He turned his head. There was nothing there. His eyes widened. What was...?

Then all around him, a voice spoke in his head, causing him to jolt.

(Well well... I didn't think it would be this easy...)

Biclops narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He formed a trembling fist with his head. He looked around for any sign of the intruder, darting his eyes from side to side. He couldn't see him, but the chuckling in his head gave away that someone was there.

(I had been told that you were smart. I see that he was mistaken.) The voice taunted him. (Even a small child would have seen through that little cheap trick. Then again... given the type of zoner that you are... Maybe I should be glad of this reaction of yours.)

"Who are you? What's going on?!" Boomed Biclops. He rose up his fists, ready to fight. "Come down and face me!"

(Ah, eager to get started I see. No worries. You will be seeing me soon enough.) The voice said.

All around Biclops, the image continued to warp, sizzle, and pixelate. Soon it began to gave way into a new image. Just like with the image of 'Rudy', he could see the present view around him began to be sucked away, revealing where he actually was.

A large cage.

His eyes bulged at this. He looked all around. He was still in the mines, but in a deeper section. Another large room, big enough for this cage that was now holding him. Instinctively, he rushed over to strike it, only scream as he was electrocuted. He fall back, clutching his arm together. He got back up and he looked around.

As he noticed the vastly different shapes, his mind began to flashback to when he was chasing what he thought was Skrawl. If he had been heading down this way instead... That would explain why the ground felt so different. He thought he was running to where the red chalk was, but instead, he had managed to be tricked to heading down here. His mind was fooled, but his body had not been, and that first sensation of strangeness... He should have realized something was wrong then.

"Where are you...?" He asked carefully. "And how did you do this...?"

(Ah, let me introduce myself...)

He could hear the scraping again. It came from his left side. He turned his head there, watching carefully. He could see a shape moving along the wall. Long and slender and having a pointed tip.

Wait...a pointed tip...? Could this possibly be..?

Before he had a chance to finish that question, he could see the red form of the memotrice come into view. It moved along the ground in an almost grace-like manner, its head held up high. Its beak was stretched into a smile, and it gave him a look with those brown eyes. A look that made him shudder.

"Y-You're the..." Biclops's voice trailed off.

(You have heard of me. I'm sure many have. I did make quite the impression.)

Biclops stared open-mouthed at the creature before he shook his head and tried to put on a brave front. "What do you what, memotice?"

The memotrice's expression changed to that of mock sadness. (Is that anyway to treat your guests, Biclops? Come now, we're all friends here, right?) Biclops growled at it. The memotrice moved its wing towards him. (My name is Thoughtless.)

"I don't care." Biclops said. He fought against the urge to try to escape again. "Just tell me why you are here."

Thoughtless raised its foot up and began to scratch the side of its head with its talons. (Why, to have a little fun, of course. Did you enjoy the show? I made it up myself.)

Despite his anger and fear, Biclops could not fight back the curiosity that was clinging to his mind. "How did you do this...?"

(Oh that is easy. You are a memozoner, just like me.) Thoughtless said. (You are able to show others the past. What you have seen. Such a wonderful talent. But that same talent makes you more vulnerable to me.) It tilted its head to one side. (I can change the long term memory of any zoner I choose. But with zoners like you, I can go even further...)

Biclops did not like the sound of its voice at that. He was already aware of him being more vulnerable. But to have this zoner explain just how much... It was making his heart race, his stomach filling with toxic bile. He struggled to keep his glare on as the memotrice began to pace in front of his cage.

(I can alter your short term memory. But not even that.) The memotrice stopped pacing and it raised its foot again. It looked down at its talons, flexing them. (I can alter your working memory as well.)

"My working memory?" Biclops asked. "What do you mean?"

Thoughtless titled its head to one side and eyed him with one, shining brown eye. (How do you think I was able to trick you into running down here? Into thinking you were chasing Skrawl? That you had struck Rudy?) Thoughtless let out a series of quick chirps, laughing. (Working memory is the most current memory that you have. I merely tap into it, and I can make you remember something that wasn't there.)

Biclops could feel his heart beat faster at this. The memotrice's words continued to echo in his head. This... This was much worse than he had imagined. This beast... This thing... It had much more control over his memory than any other zoner. It could delve much further into his mind and really screw with him. No memory was safe from this memotrice. This thing even trick him into believing he was somewhere he wasn't.

What else could it do? What was the full extent of its powers?

(It was quite a show. All it took was altering a couple small segments of your working memory, and you were convinced you were chasing Skrawl. Just imagine what fun I'm going to have when I start to play with your long term memory.)

Biclops gritted his teeth. "I'll never fall for your tricks."

Thoughtless shrugged its shoulders. (Say that as much as you like. No one has been able to resist me before.)

"You weren't out that long." Biclops reminded him.

Thoughtless narrowed its eyes at this. (No, of course not..) The smile returned. This time it grew a little more twisted. (That is about to change. And it will start with you.) It raised one of its small wings upward and motioned it towards the giant. (You, my friend giant, will have the honor of being the first memozoner I get to play with.)

"But I thought that..."

(Oh no...) The memotrice shook its head. (I never got a chance to play with a memozoner before. I told other zoners I could do that, yes. But you are the first one.) It lowered its head, its brown eyes staring at him intently. (I wonder how your long term memory is going to feel. Oh I'm sure it'll feel...delicious...!)

Biclops tried his best to continue being brave. He couldn't allow this zoner to see any weakness from him. He couldn't let his fear show. He couldn't allow the memotrice to have any kind of satisfaction.

Yet, despite his best efforts, he just could not stop shaking. How could he stop? His very mind was in danger. His core, his personality, everything that made him who he was, it could all be changed at the whim of this memotrice. Whatever it decided, its will would conquer over him. No amount of struggling was going to help.

(What I had you do before, that was but a taste of what is in store for you.)

Biclops was confused by this at first. But then his mind began to flash back to what he had done. When he struck Skrawl, it had become Rudy. Was... Oh no... "You're not..."

(Oh yes. Soon you will hate Rudy with enough fury to do the same thing to him.) Thoughtless gritted his beak in amusement, looking as if he was struggling not to laugh at the sight of the giant's paled face and wide eyes. (Now hold still why I pry open those pretty little folds that you call long term memory...)


	7. New Addition To The Team

Snap wasn't aware of how long he had been storming away like this. Nor was he aware of how long it had actually been since he stopped his stomping, or when he had begun to cool down. Right now, his mind was too distracted to really notice. He could only think of one thing.

His destination: the Chalk Mine.

He reread that note Rudy had sent over and over again. He had read how Reggie had bitten both him and Penny. He replayed that in his head again and again, his body quaking in anger. Reggie had gone way too far this time. He had never liked the kid before, but now, he was tempted to punch him in the face and break his jaw. He wasn't sure if he could hold back that emptation if or when he ran into him again in the Real World.

He remembered the words of his friends. They had tried to calm him down and get him to listen to reason. Bah, they don't know what reasoning was. There was no way he was going to allow Rudy and Penny be wronged by this guy. If Blocky and Rapsheeba understood, then they would be supporting him and helping him make Reggie pay.

But instead they were hanging back. Instead, they tried to make him stop. He couldn't believe how unreasonable they were being. They just didn't get it, did they? If he didn't do something, then Reggie was not going to get the proper punishment, and his friends would not have their justice.

And that just wasn't fair. Rudy and Penny deserved something for what had been done to them. If this had happened when they were older, they'd sure get something. Reggie would have been punished more severely. But the only thing he would get now is a damaged grade, which he already has plenty of, and possibly community service or some bullshit like that.

He clutched his hand into a fist tightly. No, that boy deserved a lot more than that. He deserved prison time. He deserved getting sense knocked into him. He deserved something worse than a mere suspension and community service. If the Real World officers weren't going to do that, then he would be glad to step up to the plate and do it for them. He would love to get back at Reggie for what he had done.

A part of him gave pause. He had been complaining of the justice system not being fair, but..was he? Did he really have the right to waltz over into the Real World and try to give Reggie the punishment he felt he deserved? Would that really help Rudy or Penny? Would it make things better?

He realized the answer to that very quickly. It was a 'no'. He might be making things worse doing this. He might upset Rudy and Penny. They might not want him to do this. He might jeopardize a lot more than he could possibly imagine by doing this.

But in the moment, he just didn't care.

His body still heated from the previous anger, his body still having some tension, he moved along the ground at a steady and brisk pace. He stared out ahead at his target, his teeth clenched. He ignored any zoner that tried to speak to him or ask him what was going on. His anger was easily read, indicated by some zoners that backed away from him worriedly.

Snap continued to zigzag around the zoners, keeping his attention on the path in front of him. He didn't other to spare a glance to anyone, not even if he was familiar with them or they tried to wave hello to him. He was in no mood to sit down and chitchat. The sooner he got to the Chalk Mine, the better off he was going to feel. At the moment, there was only one zoner he really wanted to talk to and that was Biclops.

He was glad when he left the city and was out in the open fields. It was nice being in a place with few zoners so he wasn't nearly constantly interrupted. In contrast of the city, this place was pretty nice and quiet for the most part. Rather peaceful. But the peacea round him did little to cheer him up, and he continued concentrating on locating the Chalk Mine. It shouldn't take him too long to get there.

Indeed, it didn't. He may have been walking for fifteen minutes, but it felt so much shorter than that. Maybe five at most. He didn't really care how long it took him. At least he was here now. He could see the towering rock face that he knew made up the mine, and the river that cut around it, providing only a small barrier between any zoner trying to visit and the mine itself. Snap walked close to the canal as he made his way towards the mine, walking up the small hill and then down again, soon finding himself at the edge of the river.

After crossing it, he started to make his way towards the entrance of the mine. He was about to call out to Biclops when he noticed something quite odd.

Where was Biclops?

This didn't strike him as too strange after a while when he remembered that there were times when he would come near thet mine and Biclops wasn't there. But then his concern rose again when another memory came which reminded him that it was very rare that Biclops wasn't near the entrance. Due to the time, Biclops should have been here, guarding the mine from any intruders. But he wasn't there.

Snap knew in that moment that something must be wrong. Many questions ran through his mind. Was Biclops injured? Was he not feeling well? Did he get caught up in something and had to leave? What had happened?

A part of him wanted to leave and tell his friends about the giant's absense. But...what would they be able to do? They could help look for him but... Biclops is a giant. How difficult could he be to find? If he was in danger, he didn't want to endangere them either. It might be better if he just went himself, despite the risk. At least that way, his friends won't be in danger.

The tension as he approached the mine was strong. He had to force himself to keep moving forward, each step feeling heavier and heavier. The atmosphere around the entrance itself was thick, and despite it looking the same as usual, he couldn't help but get an air of fear around there. A sensation he hadn't felt around the mine since... since he and Rudy had first come and encountered the giant.

But that was silly. He didn't have a reason to feel like that here. Biclops was a friend. He wouldn't, out of the blue, attack them. That first encounter was just a misunderstanding. One that had a good explanation. He couldn't blame Biclops for being upset after he showed them ChalkZone's history. He had come to realize how good Rudy was after he helped him, after he helped other zoners, and he had become an ally since. Biclops had always been pretty friendly and a pleasant guy to talk to. That wouldn't change on a dime.

But then..why did the mine's atmosphere suddenly change into something so...foreboding? Why did it feel as though he shouldn't get any closer? He bit his lip, staring out ahead towards the entrance, his body giving a few slight shakes. Despite his best efforts, he wasn't able to feel particularly safe about entering the mine. There was just something so...off about it.

He stood in front of the entrance for several moments, staring at it. He looked at the twisting paths that immediately greeted him, and the ones in the distances. He could see the dark shades that obscured parts of the cave, and the lights that Biclops set up so that he could navigate the caves without much problem. He could see parts of the overhanging chalk on the ceiling, and the many rock formations that created many uneven walls and floors. But the one thing that he could not see was Biclops himself. Not even his shadow moving or the feel of his foot vibrations to indicate that he was there.

Snap struggled to think of what he should do. Should he just leave and come back later? Should he wait until Rudy came into ChalkZone? Should he go in and figure out what's going on himself? So many possibilities... Yet he couldn't get himself to do any of them. He felt...stuck, so unsure. He had never felt so frustrated before.

He soon realized what he had to do. He was here now. He had come all this way. Rudy and Penny weren't in danger anymore and they had been treated. But Biclops... What if he needed his help? As a friend, he knew he should at least check. Taking a few steps closer, he paused for a moment outside the mine. Then, taking in a deep breath, he entered the mine.

It felt even worse on the inside. He could feel his body practically freeze with how much tension was circling around him, gripping him in an unrelenting grasp. He felt his teeth clenching unconsciously as he looked left and right, looking for any signs of the giant or any signs of danger. He wanted so much to speak out and yell for clarification. But if someone else was in here and if they were hurting Biclops, it was best he did not make himself known. Otherwise, who knows what else they might do to him.

He wasn't sure where he was going to go. He didn't know which tunnel to take. But the cold tension... It almost felt as though it was coming down from this tunnel, the one that was located the furthest away. He took it.

As soon as he stepped into it, he felt his body shiver. Yeah, this must be the one. He continued to move down it, taking care to avoid any small rocks or grooves that were in the ground so he didn't make any noise. He kept his body hunched, continuously moving his head left and right. He could feel the glow of the torches move along his body, creating a slight warmth along it. But despite the warmth and light the torches provided, for some reason, it still felt so dark in here, as if someone had dimmed the lights, even though he could clearly see it was not. Was this the work of his fear?

His thoughts were interrupted when he took notice of a strange shadow up ahead. There was a room here. The opening was quite large like all the others. Yet it still appeared a bit smaller than the usual ones. His attention was not focused on the entrance, however. But instead it was on that shadow. It didn't look like any shadow he had seen here before. There was no way it was Biclops's. The head was too small and there was a slender neck and...

He wasn't able to identify who this zoner was at this angle. The shadow did not provide enough detail. The one thing that he was certain of is that this zoner was the reason for Biclops's absense. He must be doing something to Biclops in there. Snap narrowed his eyes in determination. He wasn't going to let this creepazoid get away with this. He moved forward slowly, keeping himself near the wall, eyeing the slender shadow.

"No... You're wrong... He's not..."

Snap froze at that. He tensed up and stared out ahead expectantly.

"I would never hate him! I.."

That was Biclops. There was no doubt about it. But..who was he talking to? It sounded as if he were carrying out a conversation. But he could only hear Biclops's side. Why couldn't he hear his captor speaking?

And just who is this 'him' and 'he' that he mentioned? Who would Biclops never hate? There were a number of zoners that fit that, as well as Rudy himself. Which one was Biclops talking about and just how was this intruder trying to make him hate him? The only way to find out was to get closer. So he began to slink his way over, listening intently as Biclops continued to shout from within the room.

"He's my friend! He.. He never hurt me, he..." Biclops's voice began to grow weaker and less sure, as if he were having second opinions. "He did tie me up... He... did leave me there... He..."

At this, Snap widened his eyes. He knew exactly who he was talking about. Whoever was in there, he was trying to convince Biclops to hate Rudy. This did not give away the intruder's identity, but he already had a very good idea of who it was.

As he continued to sneak on through, listening, he could hear Biclops continuously fight against some unheard voice, but he was slowly giving in. His voice went from determination to being confused and uncertain, and he could finally hear some anger in it as his comments became less defensive and more offensive. And whene that happened, Snap realized that the intruder had completed his mission, or whatever mission that was.

"He is the enemy."

Snap felt his blood freeze at this. Never before had Biclops used such an aggressive-sounding voice when referring to Rudy. Not even when they first met, and he had been pretty nasty then. This...This almost sounded murderous. As if Biclops wanted to rip Rudy in half and... Just how did this happen?

His blood ran cold even further, nearly bursting out of the veins and arteries, when he flashed back to that news broadcast he had created not too long ago. The one about the memotrice. Could... could it be possible that it had come here...? Did Skrawl successfully free that beast and turn it to his side?

His heart thumped heavily at the mere thought. He took in a few quick breaths, and as he stared out at the opening, it felt as though it was getting darker, the air around him becoming tighter. He clutched at his throat and rubbed it as he took a small step back. He looked down at the shadow before him and as he stared, he could see the features of the memotrice easily. His nonexistent pupils shrank into dots.

His ears were soon filled with the sound of loud squeaking. Something was opening up. It sounded almost like metal. A cage perhaps? That would explain how the memotrice was able to hold Biclops while he did his nasty work. But how did he even get him in there in the first place? How did he sneak into the Chalk Mine undetected? So many questions ran through his head, clouding his skull with multiple thoughts. He managed to snap himself back to attention when he heard a loud thud. Then there was a dark shadow moving along. Biclops was coming forward.

Snap backed away quickly. He..he had to get out of here. If Biclops spotted him now...

There was a thunk behind him. The sound of a pebble skipping across the ground. It sounded so much louder in this cave tunnel. He nearly stopped breathing when he saw the shadows froze. His hopes for them to miss the sound were dashed, and he could hear the giant growling lowly.

The shadow of what must be the memotrice raised up. He thought he could see those horrid brown eyes glowing. Then he heard something in his head that nearly made him jump.

(An intruder... You are Snap. I can see your shadow. I know who you are. Isn't this just perfect?) The beast said. (Biclops... Why don't you bring our 'friend' over? I would like to speak to him.)

Snap cowered as he saw the giant come out of the room. No sign of the memotrice, but at the moment, that didn't bother him. His eyes remained glued to the giant that came into view. Biclops didn't look physically different, but somehow, given the new mindset that he had, along with that horrible, twisted scowl on his face, how his eyes appeared to radiate contempt, he looked far darker and more terrifying than ever before.

Snap squeaked out, "B-Biclops...?"

Biclops loomed over him, each step feeling heavier and heavier. "You're coming with me." This wasn't a suggestion, but a command, the voice laced in venom.

Snap didn't bother trying to speak again. His heart nearly bursting open from fear, he whipped himself around and he began to run away. He could hear the giant's pounding feet behind him.

He didn't bother to look where he was going or try to figure out where he was. All he could think of was getting out of the cave. He stared out ahead, seeing the light in the distance. He looked behind him, seeing the giant. He pumped himself to move faster, his heart pounding in his chest. If he could only get out of the cave...

Suddenly he tripped against a small rock. He let out a yelp as he felt the leg twist a little. He sat up and he grabbed onto the leg, feeling the swelling already starting to appear. He suddenly heard a foot fall right beside him, causing the ground to shake. Shaking, he looked up just in time for Biclops to reach down and grab him in his large hand.

The force that Biclops used was more than he normally would allow. He had been picked up by Biclops before, but never like this. He could feel his ribs nearly snap under the pressure. He could feel his air supply almost get cut off, causing him to open his mouth wider to breathe. He tried to speak, but his voice was so weak from the lack of air. All he could do was struggle to breathe as he looked up at Biclops, those hatred-filled eyes boring through him like he was something disgusting.

Without a word, Biclops turned and began to take him back towards the room he had just been in. Even in his dazed state, Snap could see the memotrice standing there, recognizing its features from his last Snap Shots show. The memotrice motioned for Biclops to take him into the room, in which he did.

Snap was thrown against the ground. He smacked against the rock face as he tumbled and rolled. He coughed a few times as some of the dust got in his throat. He pushed himself up with his arm and grabbed onto his throat. He gently rubbed it as he coughed and wheezed, eventually regaining his breath. There was a thud and he lifted his head to see the memotrice right in front of him.

Before he could respond, Snap could feel the talons and toes wrap around his neck and push him down into the ground. He let out a pained grunt as the back of his head thudded against the rocky cave floor. He grabbed onto the memotrice's leg and started to push back against it. The memotrice's grip was like a vice. Despite this, he continued to kick out his legs, push against the memotrice, gritting his teeth, his eyes shut tightly.

(Just stop already. You aren't going anywhere.)

Snap opened his eyes and glared up at the memotrice. "If you think for one minute that... I'm staying...here..."

(Oh I know you're not. However, you haven't gotten your new assignment.) The memotrice spoke, its voice sounding cold despite there being now actual sound. It was a unnerving sensation. (You see, despite working for Skrawl, I do get lonely myself. I need some company. Someone who will follow my every command, who will be as loyal to me as a dog...) It lowered its head towards his face. (And you, my blue friend, will be perfect.)

"N-No.. I won't..." Snap tried to push harder. "I would never betray Rudy!"

The memotrice tilted its head to the side. Its one brown eye stared down at him, twinkling. (We will see about that. Now...let's get started..)

Snap began to let out screams as he felt parts of his skull begin to heat up as the memotrice invaded his mind.

sss

The class felt so strange without Reggie in it. Rudy knew that this wasn't much of a change. Only one student gone. But without that bully sitting near him, it just felt so...different somehow. It was almost as if the classroom had lost a part of itself when Reggie was taken away.

Despite being angry at Reggie, a part of him couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The kid already got himself into so much trouble. With this added on top of it, he couldn't imagine what his life in the future would be like. How would he be able to function once he had gotten out of school? Where would he go?

He shook the thoughts out of his head. He shouldn't think about him. Reggie had gone too far this time. He was asking for this kind of punishment. If he didn't want to get kicked out of school for two weeks, then he should have thought more about that when he had used those two students to attack them.

Speaking of Bobby and Harvey, he realized they weren't in this classroom either. He looked around, barely listening to Mr. Wilter's words, as he noticed that those two students were gone. Vanished. He recalled that, despite not being the instigators, they were punished for submitting those attacks against him and Penny. Their punishment wasn't as bad by comparison. They hadn't been kicked out of the school at least, but they were expected to go to anothere classroom for a while. A sort of detention.

Rudy felt sorry for those two. They had never wanted to hurt him and Penny. They were only doing those things because Reggie was making them. They had clearly wanted to let them go and leave, but Reggie was forcing them to stay. The memory of it heated up Rudy's blood. How dare he force innocent students to do his dirty work...

Well at least he wouldn't have to worry about it for a while. He won't have to see Reggie until after his two week suspension is up. Or his community service time was over. Whichever one came first. He was a little worried about what might happen once he returned, but he would concern himself with that when it came close to when Reggie would return.

He kept his eyes straight, making it look as if he was watching Mr. Wilter write the stuff regarding math on the chalkboard. The teacher occasionally would look out this way. Not once did Mr. Wilter speak out towards him or give any indication he thought he wasn't paying attention. He just went on as if nothing was wrong.

Unbeknownst to Mr. Wilter, however, Rudy's eyes were occasionally darting around towards Penny. He could feel his body stiffen up as he stared at her, biting his lip. His eyes trailed over her treated arms, seeing the red marks that were still left behind from the attack. The sight of them made him quiver, and his own injuries ached as well. He and Penny were both lucky that the attacks weren't as bad as they could have been. But they still had a lot of recovering to do.

What would happen if Reggie decided to try again? Would he go as far as attack them just like before? Would he sic his 'minions' on them and do much worse? Rudy wasn't sure how far Reggie could go. He wasn't sure what his lowest point would be. He thought he knew, but Reggie had proven him wrong in that attack. He no longer knew the boy's limit, and that made him far scarier in his mind.

Despite telling himself to wait to worry, that nothing good will come out of stressing out over this now, he could feel his mind clawing away in that direction. He could feel his heart clench tightly in fear as he thought of what Reggie might do once he got back. If Reggie decided to go for broke, to not care anymore about how he was punished, if he allowed nothing to hold him back, what would he do? Considering how large that boy was, Rudy was all too aware of all sorts of things that Regie might do to him.

He turned his eyes down to his portable chalkboard. He bit his lip as he stared at it, recalling the danger that was going on inside ChalkZone as well. The memotrice and Skrawl... He had no idea what was going on with them right now. He didn't know the status, and not knowing was driving him insane. He kept asking himself multiple questions.

Were the zoners okay?

Did something happen?

Was anyone hurt or injured?

Did the memotrice get them?

Did Skrawl get them?

He felt his head start to ache and swell as he tried to figure out what was going on. He couldn't help but shiver a little as he imagined all the horrible things that might be going on with Snap and the others. He wanted to get into ChalkZone so badly and talk to them, see if they are okay, help anyone that was in need. He couldn't continue wasting his time in here, listening to the teacher speak. The urge to jump through the portal was increasing with each second. He...

"Rudy Tabootie!"

Rudy let out a yell of surprise, nearly dropping his portable chalkboard as Mr. Wilter shouted at him. He looked up over at the teacher, giving off a nervous smile. He tried to ignore the chuckles from the other students. "Y-Yes, Mr. Wilter...?"

"If you're done staring at your desk, can you please answer the question on the board?" Mr. Wilter slapped his long stick against the chalkboard, creating a loud snap. Rudy hunched his shoulders and flinched as he imagined how that must sound like on the other side. "Well, Mr. Tabootie?"

"I..." Rudy stared at the board, reading the sequence that was stretched a long it. It was such an easy answer, yet his stunned mind couldn't bring himself to say anything. He ended up staring at Mr. Wilter like he had been frozen with some ray. "...I..."

Thankfully, Penny raised her hand.

"Yes, Penny Sanchez? Do you mind informing the class, and Rudy, what the answer is?"

Penny nodded. "The answer is sixty-two."

"That is correct! Thank you, Ms. Sanchez." Mr. Wilter said as he praised Penny.

Penny smiled and said, "You're welcome." She turned and gave Rudy a small, concerned glare. Rudy flinched and looked away from it.

"As for you, Rudy..."

Rudy lifted up his head and looked over at Mr. Wilter. He gritted his teeth nervously as the teacher glared at him. He knew Mr. Wilter was not going to let up on him that much just because he and Penny were attacked. He still expected them to pay attention in class, especially since the worst of it was over.

"I expect you to keep your eyes up here. Understand?" Mr. Wilter asked.

Rudy nodded his head. "Yes, Mr. Wilter."

Mr. Wilter lifted his head up. "Good." He turned himself around and returned to the chalkboard. "Now class, when we take this number and..."

Rudy gave a quick glance back down at the chalkboard that he held. He stared at it longingly as Mr. Wilter's voice echoed in the back of his head. He wanted to check on Snap so badly, to ask him how everything was going. But he would have to put that off for now. He had to turn his attention back to the board or Mr. Wilter will be quite upset with him. He set the portable chalkboard down. He made a note in his head to check during recess.

sss

"Rudy, are you sure this is safe?" Penny asked cautiously.

"I'm sure. We just have to make sure we are further away this time." Said Rudy. He looked left and right. "I don't think any of the children will see us from here. Besides, we're not going into ChalkZone; we're just going to try to talk to Snap and see if there's any updates. He usually waits around here for me."

Penny stared at Rudy, still not so sure about this. She remembered what happened as a result of earlier, how Reggie had seen them creating a portal. Well not directly, but he still saw the light. If they made the same mistake again...

But she couldn't lie and say that she wasn't just as determined and curious as he was. She too would love to hear any new information from Snap. He might have some information that they could use, and even if it wasn't useful, just some reassurances would be nice. She was frightened by the prospect of a memotrice going around in ChalkZone. If Snap had any positive update, she would like to know as well.

"Okay then. Make the portal quickly." Penny said. "Let's get this over with before someone sees us."

Rudy nodded in agreement. He took out the magic chalk and he drew a portal around the small chalkboard, as wide as the black surface was. The light flickered for a moment and as soon as the portal opened up, Rudy leaned into the board and called out in a hushed whisper, "Snap? Hey Snap, are you there?"

Penny expected to hear Snap call out with his usual 'Bucko' comment, even try to drag Rudy into ChalkZone despite them not having the time for it. But oddly, this time there was nothing. Just silence. Rudy and Penny looked at each other for a few moments, silently contemplating what their next move should be.

It was not unusual for Snap to not be there. He wasn't always waiting for Rudy. There were times when he was off doing something else. Maybe he had a date with Rapsheeba or he agreed to take Blocky to a game or maybe something else happened. Neither of them were particularly worried. But they were both slightly frustrated and eager. They both really wanted an update on that memotrice. They wanted to know if the zoners were okay. It might seem quiet, but this didn't mean much. The danger could be happening much deeper in ChalkZone.

Neither of them had planned to go directly into ChalkZone right now after the scare with Reggie. But with the absense of Snap, they knew that if they wanted any answers, the fastest way was to head directly into ChalkZone. It shouldn't take long before they would find someone who could help them or hopefully run into Snap.

They didn't bother wasting time figuring out if going in was such a good idea. They didn't have any time for that. All they had to do was go in and out. All they wanted was an update on the memotrice, and then they could come in when they got home. Hopefully their parents would let them have some time alone so they could do some exploring in ChalkZone. They did not want to have to wait even longer to help do something about that blasted memotrice. They were supposed to help do something about it earlier and...

At that memory, Penny froze. She recalled how they were supposed to meet Biclops the other day to discuss what to do about the memotrice. She hoped he wasn't too upset or worried about them not showing up. She hoped that them not coming over when they said they would didn't make the giant feel any more afraid than he already would have been. She and Rudy didn't mean to not come. How could either of them predicted that Reggie would have stopped them and beat them up like he had?

Well perhaps he would understand. Biclops always was an understanding fellow. She was certain that, if he were angry, he'd calm down after hearing the story, unless Snap already told him. Yeah, as soon as they showed up at the cave, Biclops would be there waiting for them, waving to them and looking relieved.

Once inside ChalkZone, the two children began to head out. Their first destination was ChalkZone City. Snap was often in here if he wasn't out waiting for Rudy. There was so much to do in this place, and so many zoners to interact with. It made an ideal place for Snap to hang out when he was bored and didn't know what to do. The same thing went for any zoner in the area, really. It was a lot nicer here than in a Real World city, which was too crowded and cluttered and noisy and... ugh, Penny tried to shudder the thoughts out of her head.

She and Rudy spent some time looking around the city. They didn't go anywhere in particular. They just headed down the streets, looking left and right as they tried to locate Snap. So far, they didn't see him anywhere, or anyone immediately familiar either. There was no shortage of zoners here, but none of them were the ones they were hoping to find. But they didn't give up. They kept on searching.

They eventually came to the beginning of a Night Zone. They had to stop and turn around. Snap might very well be in the Night Zone partying, maybe at that Mother Tongue place, which Penny would be glad she never got around again. But first, they felt they should search more in the Day Zone section. After all, he might be hanging out with Chalk Dad, or he might be performing a trick with Howdy, or maybe he was on a picnic or something.

But so far, no sign of him. No matter how far they traveled, no matter how hard they looked, there was no sign of their friend. They scoured all over the Day Zone section of the city. No change. No sign of a certain blue and white zoner. Many other zoners, but not the one they were hoping to find. If Snap wasn't located anywhere in the Day Zone section, then they had to move onto the Night Zone portion.

It didn't take long to find the Night Zone, and good thing too. They would need to leave soon in order to get back to school before their teacher and fellow classmates realized they were missing. They pumped their legs as quickly as they cold as they ventured further into the Night Zone, looking around to try to find Snap.

They passed by a couple of large buildings that appeared to have some major partying going on inside. They walked over towards each and asked the zoners standing outside on watch if a small, super hero zoner clad in blue and white had went into the building. Both times, it was a no, much to their disappointment. Neither of them were costume parties, but even if they were, Snap most likely wouldn't have tried to change his outfit to go to one. So they just continued on their way, searching around.

After a couple of minutes and still no sign of their friend, they walked over to a building and leaned against it. They didn't speak, both lost in their thoughts. They had to wonder how they were going to find Snap before they had to leave. Perhaps they should have just asked the many random zoners for any updates instead of just if they had seen their friend. True, they might not have known anything, but they may have eventually found someone who could have told them something.

Well it wasn't too late to keep looking. Recess was going to still last for another... ten minutes perhaps? Okay, not a lot of time to do searching. But in that small time frame, they might be able to find someone who can tell them what they need.

"Rudy? Penny?"

The two children immediately stopped and turned their heads. They could recognize the forms of Rapsheeba and Blocky heading right for them. Rudy and Penny were relieved for a few seconds, only to be bombarded with worry when they saw the look in their friends' eyes.

Penny had never seen them look this scared or frightened before. Even from this distance, she could see the horror plastered in their eyes. She wondered what they must have seen. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought about the possibility of them having encountered the memotrice. She immediately rushed over to them, Rudy following close behind her. As soon as they reached them, she spoke up.

"What happened? Is it the memotrice?!" Penny cried out, a little louder than she had expected. She could see Rudy's shocked expression out of the corner of her eyes. When the two zoners shook their heads, she felt relief, but concern was still present in her mind. "Then...what is it...?"

Blocky panted, looking exhausted as if he had ran for miles. "S-Snap... We..."

Rapsheeba, who appeared to have already caught her breath, spoke up in his place. "Snap is missing!"

Rudy and Penny gasped at this. They glanced at each other, and then back at them.

"Missing?" Penny asked carefully. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Yesterday, not long after Rudy here sent a message." Rapsheeba pointed at the boy for a second. "Snap was so angry about what happened to you guys, he stormed over to Biclops to try to find a way into the Real World."

"He did?" Penny whispered. Considering neither of them had see him, it was a safe bet he found no way in. Not that she thought he would. But that still left an important question. "Why?"

Blocky looked at them with fear-filled eyes. "He..he wanted to teach Reggie a lesson!"

"What?" Rudy and Penny called out in unison. They were both aware that Snap would be angry. But to want to come into the Real World just to get back at Reggie... That didn't seem like something Snap would do. Why would he take a risk like that?

Rapsheeba said, "We waited for him to come back, but we hadn't seen him since then! He hadn't even shown up for any of the parties going on here in Night Zone." She held up her hands at her sides. "You know how much he loves parties. But he didn't show up for either of them."

"Yeah that is strange..." Penny's voice was slightly shaky. She tried her best to calm herself down. There had to be a reason for this. "The first place we need to check is the mine."

Rudy looked at the two zoners. "Have either of you tried to look there?"

The two zoners shook their heads.

"We were going to...until..." Blocky's voice trailed off. He rubbed his arm nervously as he looked away. "Until..."

"Until what?" Rudy pressed.

"What happened?" Asked Penny.

Blocky didn't look like he was going to be able to respond anytime soon. Thankfully, Rapsheeba appeared better able. She took a step forward and she gave a slightly narrowed expression. The fear that dripped from those eyes was unmistakeable. The next word she whispered out caused Penny and Rudy to nearly stop breathing.

"The memotrice was spotted in that direction."

sss

"So...you're finally back..."

Skrawl couldn't hide his anger that much when he saw the memotrice finally walk back into his lair. He had expected the memotrice back a lot sooner than this. He had helped bring in the cage for Biclops, but then he left as Thoughtless had wanted absolute concentration. It had promised to be back soon, but it was the following day.

"What kept you...?" Skrawl growled softly, his hands tense, claws gripping the couch's arm tightly.

(My apologies. There was a delay.)

Skrawl raised an eyebrow at this. "I thought you said your powers don't takel ong." The memotrice just stared at him. Skrawl narrowed his eyes. "Don't look at me that way. I saw exactly what you were capable of!" He pointed a long claw at it. "I saw what you did to those guards!"

Thoughtless nodded its head once. (Indeed that is true.) The memotrice continued to move towards him. It did not look very phased by Skrawl's anger. (However, perfection can't be rushed.)

"Oh don't give me that..." Skrawl rolled his eyes. "It shouldn't have taken you this long! I thought you had gotten captured or something!"

The memotrice let out several squawks of laughter. (Capture me?!) It placed a wing against itself, its beak stretched up in a smile. (Please! The only reason they caught me before was because they got lucky!) Its eyes narrowed as it opened its beak enough to show its small sharp teeth. (I can assure you that it will not happen again..)

Skrawl growled at this. He had so many things he wanted to say to the memotrice. He wanted to make it understand the consequences of what it did. There was a reason why he wanted it back as soon as possible. It had wasted too much time in the mines. Biclops, once...altered...didn't need any help. He would have known what to do. There was no reason for it to stay behind with him. He just couldn't fathom any reason for why he did this.

Well, at least it was here now. That's all that mattered. Thoughtless would be safe from capture here. Or at least, attempted capture. At this point, he and Thoughtless no longer needed to be directly involved themselves. They can just wait here and watch the fireworks via..something. He hadn't quite thought of how he was going to watch, but he would find a way. He wanted to see the look on the Great Creator's face once he had seen that Biclops was now his enemy. He wanted to see Biclops try to kill the boy he had once called ally. Oh that would be fun.

He wanted to just move on. Biclops had been swayed to their side. He knew this just by looking at the memotrice's expression. That look of triumph was unmistakeable. Not to mention if it had failed, he was certain it would have told him. But he couldn't help but remain curious about one thing: just what caused the delay in the first place?

Skrawl motioned his hand forward, gesturing towards the memotrice. "Do you mind explaining yourself...?"

The memotrice shook its head. (Oh not at all. I..did kind of want to introduce to you our new...teammate.)

At this, Skrawl raised an eyebrow. "New teammate..?"

Thoughtless nodded. (Yes. In fact, he is the reason for the delay. You see...) It motioned its wing in gesture. (He thought it would be useful if we set up some traps in the Chalk Mine. You know, in case those two children decided to come over. Biclops loved the idea.)

Skrawl narrowed his eyes a little further. A part of him did not appreciate the fact that Thoughtless recruited someone without his permission. But on the other hand, it did make things a little more interesting. He couldn't believe he didn't think of setting up traps for Rudy and Penny for when they try to get into the mine. Because surely they would try to do that once they found out Biclops was their enemy now.

He had one more question to ask. "And who is he?"

(I thought you'd never ask.) The memotrice took a step back. (May I introduce our new teammate...) It continued to move back until it revealed a certain blue and white zoner. (Snap White.)

Skrawl's eyes widened in shock at this. "That little blue pest?!" Skrawl gritted his teeth as he pointed over at the zoner. "Get him out! He's..."

(On our side now.) Thoughtless told him.

Skrawl immediately quieted down at this. He stared at the memotrice for several moments. Despite knowing about his power, despite the memotrice's look of assurance, he couldn't help but remain skeptical. He turned to look at Snap.

He noticed the zoner looked a little angrier than usual. Not his normal anger. But something more deep-seated. As if he felt betrayed. For once, all that anger was not directed at him, despite Snap looking up in his direction. This look of betrayal had Skrawl intrigued. But he had to be sure. So he asked the most obvious and important question that needed to be gotten out of the way first.

"How do I know he won't betray us for Rudy and Penny?" Skrawl held up his hand in gesture. "After all... he is Rudy's creation."

Snap raised his head up slightly at this. His facial expression appeared to harden. "Tsch... Why would I do anything for them? After the way they cut me open and experimented on me after I ate those tainted cookies?"

Skrawl looked at him for a few moments, and then back at Thoughtless. They shared a small, knowing smirk. He then looked back at Snap. "So...what are you going to do about it, Snap?"

The blue zoner took a few steps forward. He then placed himself onto his knee and he lowered his head. A gesture of respect and loyalty that Skrawl never thought he would get from this zoner. "I will follow you."

"You will?" Skrawl asked.

Snap nodded his head. "After all..." Snap looked up. This time, his expression was replaced with brief gratefulness. "You saved me from them."

Skrawl chuckled at this. Oh how this was so perfect. The two zoners that had the strongest connections to Rudy and Penny were now on their side. Things couldn't go any better. "Why don't you come with me, Snap? I'd like your...opinion on how we should deal with Rudy and Penny."

Snap's eyes flickered at this. He gave a snarl, his eyes narrowing into slits. "I'll be glad to..."


	8. An Unwelcome Sight

"Penny! Let go of me!"

"No! We need to think this through!"

"But there's no time for..."

"If we rush in unprepared and get captured, then what?!"

Rudy couldn't think of anything else to say. A part of him knew that Penny was right, that they should just fall back and think of a plan. He knew how foolish it was to just rush in there uninvited and unexpected. He knew the risks of diving inot a situation unprepared.

But he just couldn't help himself. He couldn't stop pulling against Penny, trying to dislodge her. He couldn't stop trying to rush towards the Chalk Mine. If Biclops was in danger, he had to be there to help him. He couldn't just sit here, doing nothing but twiddling his thumbs. No, if Biclops needed his help, then it was his duty to help him. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe if they hurried, they might be able to save him.

No matter how hard he pulled, Penny was not letting go of him. She tightened her grip and, with a sharp pull, she managed to get Rudy back over towards her. He let out a grunt and he tried to wriggle out of her grasp. Penny clearly wasn't having any of this and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Penny! Let me go!" Rudy wailed, jerking himself from side to side. "Can't you see we are wasting time?!"

Penny grunted and held onto him tightly. "We wouldn't be wasting time if you would just listen!" Rudy continued trying to escape. "If we rush in there without a plan... We may run into that memotrice's trap... and then what? Rudy, what would we do then? You aren't thinking ahead!"

Rudy's racing mind could hardly hear her. His eyes remained focused head, staring out into the distance where he knew the Chalk Mine was. His struggles grew frantic as he tried to squirm his way out of Penny's grasp. He pushed against her, his legs kicking out in desperation. He reached his hand out, as if to grab something that wasn't there. His eyes remained closed for a few moments before he reopened them and he stared out ahead. His eyes bulged open, his pupils shrinking into dots. He took in a few shaky breaths and he let out a scream.

"I need to help them! Biclops! Snap! No!"

With another yank, Penny pulled him away further. This time, she had help from Rapsheeba and Blocky. They came over and they grabbed onto Rudy's arms. They tightened their grip and helped Penny to pull him back away against a tree. They pushed him against the wall and held him there as he struggled frantically to escape. His wide, horror-filled eyes stared out ahead as he continued to call out in desperation.

This continued on for a few minutes. Him trying to get away. His friends trying to hold him in place. He could hear their pleas and shouts. He could hear his own cries. It became a blur; he could hardly make out anything that was said. Not even from himself. All he was aware of was a loud, booming chorus in his head that echoed in his skull. All he was aware of was that sickening feeling in his stomach of raw worry, twisting his gut into knots, making him feel ill. He could feel his body trembling due to the rush of energy through his body. He wanted to run. He wanted to pump his legs as quickly as he could.

But he couldn't get away. His racing mind figured out it was these three that were holding him back. He had to get away from them. He had to get free. He had to run. He just had to...

But his efforts were in vain. Penny, Rapsheeba, and Blocky refused to let go of him. They gave him no room to escape, no weakening grasps, and he found he was not able to outpower them all. Even with adrenaline, his body wasn't able to get away from them, and he found his energy rapidly depleting. His legs felt wobbly and he went down to the ground. His friends continued to hold onto him, not daring to release him out of fear of him getting hurt.

He stared at the ground for several moments, panting heavily. His racing mind finally began to slow down a little and he started to see the bigger picture. He soon realized that Penny was indeed correct. They couldn't just rush into this. How could he have thought that?

This realization wasn't of much comfort to him, nor did it help calm him down completely. If anything, it had the opposite effect. He could feel that bitter sensation of worry eat away at his stomach, threatening to make him throw up. His heart clenched and sped up, making him dart his eyes left and right. He could feel a brief wave of panic strike through his body and it took him so much of his mental strength to hold himself back.

He wasn't sure how long it took before he cooled down. He didn't know how much time had passed before he started to regain some of his senses. He wasn't sure how long he had been like this. Slowly, he began to loosen up, his body relaxing. He felt his legs get wobbly and he dropped down onto his knees. His friends went down with him, gently holding onto him so he wouldn't fall down.

The waves of emotion still rushed through him, however. They still stung his heart, still clawed at his chest. Despite the whispered assurances from his friends, he couldn't let go this horrid feeling that was making him feel sick. His body continued to quake with emotion, and his grip on the chalk grass tightened, threatening to tear them out of the roots.

"It's not fair... This shouldn't be happening..." Rudy whispered in a shaky breath. "I'm the Great Creator! I should have been able to prevent this!" He formed a fist and he slammed it against the ground, startling his friends."

He couldn't stop the hot, stinging tears from emerging from his eyes. He felt like an idiot crying like this. But he couldnt shake off the guilt. He felt responsible for what happened. If anything happened to Biclops... It was his fault.

If only he had been more careful... If only he and Penny had just waited until they got home before they went into ChalkZone that day... If only they had been smarter with Reggie and gave him the slip before he could grab them... This and so many other thoughts rushed through his head, making his chest tighten in coldness.

He soon felt hands upon him. He lifted his head up and he could see Penny sitting in front of him. Her hands had been placed on his shoulders. She was staring at him sympathetically. At her sides were Rapsheeba and Blocky. They looked down at him sadly, their eyes glistening as they, too, tried to fight against their tears.

"Rudy... We will find a way to help them." Penny whispered gently. "Don't worry..."

Rudy trembled, unable to tear his mind away from the uncomfortable thoughts that zipped through. He had no idea what was happening with Biclops or Snap. And that terrified him. All he knew was that the memotrice headed down that way. There was no telling if they had encountered the creature or not. He didn't know if Biclops was even targeted or if he were taken over, or worse. He didn't know if Snap was still there, or if he went somewhere else.

Despite Penny's words, he couldn't fully relax about this. He couldn't be assured of his friends' safety until he went there and saw for himself that they were all right. He wanted to see their smiling faces. He wanted to see that they were fine and had managed to escaped the sight of the memotrice.

But what was he going to do? He realized, deep down, that Penny was right. If they rushed into this too quickly, it might indeed cause a problem. He might land himself in hot water. He might end up trapped or worse. He couldn't rush into this, especially if Biclops had been turned. And what of Snap? What would happen to him? His heart clenched as he realized that Skrawl could just kill him off or use him as bait. Would he make Snap's situation worse if he rushed in ill prepared?

"I have an idea."

Rudy turned his head and he could see Blocky had repositioned himself. He now stood right in front of him. That same, worried look was still plastered over his face. "Yeah, Blocky...?" Rudy managed to choke out.

"How about you draw something? Like a little spy camera or something?" The rectangular zoner pointed towards the direction of the mine. "Use it to scope out the area?"

Penny widened her eyes slightly. "You know...that's not a bad idea actually." She moved back, releasing Rudy from her embrace. She stared at him in the eyes. "Why don't you try that? It would be our safest bet to determine the threat level. Then we can plan based on that."

Rudy couldn't believe he didn't think of that before. It did make sense. If he were to draw some kind of small camera, silent and stealthy, he could use it to head to the Chalk Mine and record footage of what was going on. He could keep it out of sight and see the situation on Biclops. He could also use it to see if anything happened to Snap. He wasn't sure how much information it would reveal, but anything would be wonderful at this point.

He sat up on the ground. The others moved a little away from him, giving him room. He pulled out the magic chalk, watching it sparkle for a few seconds. He then began to quickly sketch a small camera. A long, cylinder shaped device equipped with a cloaking mechanism. He didn't want anyone to hear it. Not even Biclops, if he had been tainted by that zoner's memory alteration properties. He continued working on the sketch for a couple of minutes before he pulled the chalk back and the thing rapidly came to life.

Now there was a small, hovering camera in front of him. It almost reminded him of that thing in Pong. He shook the thought out of his head and refocused his attention. He sketched another device. Two more to be precise. He drew an adjustable video camera so he could see what this thing saw. There were a few buttons that allowed him to see in different perspectives, including infrared. Then he drew a small remote that allowed him to control the device so it would reach its destination.

He turned on the video device, Instantly he could see a pixelated version of himself and his friends, since the device was looking in their direction. He grabbed onto the controller sitting on the ground next to him. He sat down on the ground, crossed his legs, and he began to control the video camera.

The images zipped by rapidly as the camera made its way towards the mine. Behind him, Penny, Rapsheeba, and Blocky sat down behind him. They watched in cautious eagerness as the camera began its journey.

As the camera continued on its way, as Rudy continued to control it steadily, staring intently at the screen, he couldn't help but feel a sickening pang of worry claw its way inside of him. He hoped that, whatever had happened, he and his friends would be able to deal with it. He hoped that, no matter what happened, they would be able to reverse its effects and return everything to normal.

But only time would confirm this.

sss

"Ah, so the chalkboy is quite sensitive with his art, is he...?" Skrawl scratched his chin thoughtfully as he finished listening to one of Snap's explanations. "I would have thought he would be so proud and stubborn to think..."

"Oh he is. Trust me, I know." Snap interrupted him. "But that is why it's a weakness. I've seen what happens when his 'precious talent' is threatened. He nearly lost it when anyone praised his little cousin's art instead of his own!"

"I see..." Skrawl turned his gaze to one side as he let this information flow inside of him. "I'm surprised I didn't think of this... It would have proven most useful before."

"Yeah? Well now you know." Snap affirmed.

Indeed he did know now. Skrawl now knew something about Rudy Tabootie that he could very easily use against the boy later on. He had always tried to attack him physically. He had never tried to play mind games with Rudy. He had heard that mental attacks could be so much worse, leaving much longer lasting pain. If he used the right kind against him, he may be able to bring the brat to his knees, shake up his confidence, or toy with his emotions to make him slip up.

Bringing Snap to their side had been an excellent idea. Firmly convinced that Rudy and Penny had betrayed him, Snap had no qualms about telling him anything he asked for. That zoner had been with them for a long time, and would have all kinds of dirt on them, especially of Rudy. Now, all that knowledge was for him. Things he never knew before, he now had access to. Oh the possibilities...

Snap's suggestion proved to be quite interesting. The zoner had told him about the time when he was trapped in Sandman's world. In it, their nightmares would come true and mock them. He would not discuss what happened to himself, but he did tell him what happened to Rudy and Penny. Rudy was taunted by some art critic in the form of a three-headed turtle, while Penny's head swelled from too much information. Skrawl didn't know how he was going to make use of that, but with Rudy, that was a different story.

He had usually tried more physical approaches to stopping Rudy from using the chalk. But striking at him mentally may work much better. Yes, he could shake up his confidence, make him think that his efforts were worthless, make him believe that he isn't as good as he thinks he is. Yes, that would be one way of keeping Rudy from securing victory.

But...there was still the matter of his friend, Penny. Thoughtless had mentioned that he didn't believe his powers will work on the humans, so the girl would be able to help Rudy. She might even figure out a way to bring his confidence back. If he were to go with this plan, or any plan for that matter, he would need to do something about Genius Girl. Maybe Snap would have some kind of suggestion. Perhaps even a way to drive a wedge between them.

He turned his attention back to the blue zoner. He was leaning against the wall, his arms folded against his chest. He could see that his eyes still shined of bitterness towards his, well, 'former friends', courtesy of Thoughtless. In some ways, Snap was a little intimidating like this. He had never seen him look so bitter before. He had seen him be sarcastic and brave, but never like this. Never so moody, so gloomy, so...calculating. It was almost unnerving.

Snap appeared to notice him staring at him. He narrowed his eyes softly. "Yes? May I help you?" He seemed to quickly realize just what he wanted. "Ah, you want to ask me another question, I take it?"

Skrawl nodded his head. "Yes. I was wondering if you knew a way to...well..disrupt the teamwork between Rudy and Penny? It would be easier dealing with them if they were separated."

Snap gave a bitter chuckle. "Those two are quite close. It be hard to separate them. But..." A corner of his mouth twisted up into a smile. "..if you want a really good way to interrupt their teamwork, I can tell you a little story that may prove very useful to us."

Skrawl's eyes twinkled at this. "Okay, tell me."

"Do you remember the time when you used that robot to try to destroy the Chalk Mine...?"

"Yes..." Skrawl growled. "I remember."

Of course he would remember that day. How could he ever forget it? There was no way he would forget who he nearly won, how Craniac 4 messed everything up, how the robot was turned against them by Penny. He could taste victory and it was snatched away from him. He still had nightmares about that day. They would often end with him winning, then he'd wake up and realize that, no, it was all just a dream.

"I don't think you realize where that robot came from..."

Skrawl lifted his head and stared at Snap. He noticed the look in his eyes. The sight of it was unnerving and yet... It also seemed to be telling him something else. Something unknown and yet still important.

Upon seeing his look, Snap continued on, "That robot was designed by Rudy and Penny." He said those two names with a layer of venom. "They had been working on it for some kind of project, but they kept disagreeing. It eventually built up and they went their separate ways. They wound up erasing it before they gave it a purpose." He motioned a hand towards him. "It landed in your hands of course."

Skrawl blinked at this. He looked upwards thoughtfully, tapping a claw against him. "Well...that would explain why the robot looked like Rudy and talked like Rudy..." When the comment fully registered, he looked back down at Snap. "So you're telling me that they can be competitive with each other?"

Snap nodded his head. "Oh yes they can. The whole reason they were fighting was because Rudy wanted the robot to be a fighter and Penny wanted it to be a helper. They couldn't agree on what to do, and instead of compromising, they fought. They wouldn't speak to each other for a while, if I remember right."

"They couldn't agree and they fought and they separated from each other..." Skrawl thought about this. "How very interesting..."

"Those two claw at each other when they're angry more than Penny and I or Rudy and I ever had." Snap said in a somewhat gleeful tone. Then his eyes narrowed and he growled, "At least before they betrayed me..."

Skrawl was honestly surprised by this. He would have thought that those two got along quite well and were hard to separate. He remembered all too well when he had tried something to separate them, and it didn't work. Penny only pretended to be on his side, and he ended up being made the fool. He growled and clenched his fist tightly. He would never forget that day. He looked forward to the day that he made Penny pay for what she had done to him.

But according to Snap, it was possible to turn those two on each other. He knew how powerful anger was, and if it were to pull them apart, even just for a short while, that would be enough to strike. All he need is for them to be alone for a little while, and then he could move in and take at least one of them. Penny most likely, as he wanted Rudy to suffer the longest. Without Penny being there to comfort him, he could begin the mind games, shake up his confidence, and make it harder for him to win. Then once the magic chalk was gone, it was time to strike.

Unless, of course, Snap wanted to 'play' with his former friend. He hadn't asked him yet. He didn't believe now was a good time. But the idea of Snap attacking Rudy was too fun to pass up. He would bring it up later.

"Thank you, Snap. I appreciate the information." Skrawl said as he placed a hand on the small zoner's shoulder. "That will be all for now. I will come to you later when I need something."

Snap stared at him for a few moments. Then he smiled and nodded his head once. "You're welcome, master."

Skrawl felt himself stiffen a little at that name. Snap had never called him that before. He soon recovered and his own smile stretched for a bit. Then he turned around and he began to walk away.

sss

The images on the screen zipped at a rapid rate as Rudy continued to guide it towards the Chalk Mine. It zipped and zagged around, avoiding the trees and the zoners and anything else that happened to get in the way. He could soon see the canal that he knew would head towards the mine itself. He followed over the top of it, his eyes focused on the mountainous structure in the distance that he knew was the Chalk Mine.

As it drew closer, he could feel his heart skipping several beats. The anticipation for this moment ate away inside of him. The anxiety was getting stronger, making his palms feel sweaty and slippery. He knew that so much rid on what he was going to find. Despite knowing that they needed to find out, a part of him was almost terrified to find out. They had never faced a threat like this before. What were they going to do if... if...

He tried to keep himself calm. He tried to remind himself of why he needed to do this. With Penny and the two zoners at his side, he did feel some courage return. Especially when Penny placed a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it for reassurance. He smiled at her before turning his attention back to the monitor. He continued to move the small camera forward, trying to get to the mine as quickly as possible.

Soon the small camera zipped up into the sky, raising over the hills and land and down below, there it was. The Chalk Mine. He let the camera hover there for a few moments, staring at the mine intently. Then, pushing the stick down, he guided the camera towards the mine.

The first thing he noticed was the absense of Biclops. He wasn't present at the front. He looked over at the others, exchanging looks of confusion with them. This was certainly out of character for the giant. Why would he be absent? Did the memotrice have something to do with this? Or was this the result of Biclops just getting breakfast? There was only one way to find out.

Into the mine the small camera went. Rudy opted to stay up towards the ceiling. Biclops was tall, but even he couldn't touch the roof of the ceiling of this cave system. At least not without jumping, and he wouldn't dare do that unless he didn't mind the sharp rocks falling from the ceiling. Rudy had to navigate through the various stalactites and the overhanging magic chalk, but it was worth it, on the off chance that Biclops had been corrupted. He continued to move the camera along, scanning the area for any sign of Biclops or Snap.

The longher he didn't see them, the more worried he got. He thought for sure they would have been here, especially Biclops. But no matter which path he took, which direction he went, he didn't find anything. Not a single piece of evidence to provide a clue as to where they could be. This was quite strange. He tried his best to keep himself calm, but that was growing more and more difficult as time passed.

Soon he began to notice a shadow moving a long the wall. He immediately perked up, staring at it intently. Pushing the stick forward again, he guided the spy camera along the wall, zigzagging around the overhanging rocks as he followed the shadow.

He stopped only when Blocky cried out, "What's that?"

Rudy stopped the camera. He backed it up slowly and, watching as the rectangular zoner waved his hand rapidly in one direction, he turned it around. He looked out ahead and he noticed what Blocky did.

It appeared to be some kind of large room. He hadn't seen this room before, he didn't think. Then again, there were plenty of places in the mine that he had never been to. But what kind of room could this have been? And why was there a large cage in it? How strange... He never saw Biclops as the type to hold prisoners. His eyes widened. That's because he wasn't. This cage... It must have been used on him. Had this been the memotrice's doing? Did it somehow trick the giant into walking in there?

A glimpse of red caught Rudy's attention. Upon Penny's gesturing, he dove down towards it. He moved the camera close to it, allowing the lense to bring it into focus. It appeared to be a red feather of some kind. This immediately caused them all to gasp. This was all the confirmation they needed to know that the memotrice was here. After all, that creature was covered in crimson feathers.

Rudy wasn't sure if he wanted to continue. It would be quite risky. It was already a given that Biclops had been changed. If they stay there for too long, he might notice the camera some how. Despite its design, he still feared discovery. If Biclops figured out they were onto him, would he take drastic measures? That was something they couldn't afford right now.

But what of Snap? They hadn't found him yet. He wasn't anywhere in the mines so far. But maybe he hid somehow? He had to be around somewhere. Biclops wasn't anywhere in sight. They had time to keep looking. Seeing the expression on his friends' faces, Rudy knew that the best thing was to keep searching and try to see if they can find any sign of their friend. This might be their only chance. If Biclops finds them after they figure it out, well at least they could know where Snap was as well.

He kept the camera low to the ground this time, as evidence for his friend's appearance here would be around these parts. At least there was no sign of Biclops still, not even a thunderous footfall. So it made it safe to move the camera near the ground, looking left and right as he tried to find something, anything to confirm that his friend was there. So far he found nothing, but he knew if he just kept this up...

Suddenly, Rapsheeba gasped. She pointed at the video feed. "I-Is that...?"

Penny's eyes bulged as she saw it too. "No..."

Rudy looked at where Rapsheeba was pointing. There was something blue there. He froze, gulping nervously. Then, slowly, he moved the camera forward, staring intently at that blue object. When he got close enough, he could see what it was.

It was a piece of Snap's cape.

It wasn't a large piece. Just a small rip. Bu it was also accompanied by a small speckle of blood. This caused Rapsheeba to put her hands against her mouth, Blocky to take a step back, and Penny to look at Rudy sympathetically as the boy stared in horror at it. It was so small, not much detail. But it spoke volumes.

He didn't want to believe it. He wanted to think that Snap got away somehow. He wanted to believe that they weren't seeing the full story. But...there was nothing else here. No sign of a struggle. No sign of leaving. Just the piece of torn cape and the blood. Despite how little there was, this painted a very horrific image in their heads. The friends looked at each other, each of them on the verge of tears. Each of them were thinking the same thing, each of them sharing the same doubts and suspicions.

Snap...he had been... No, it couldn't be true... There had to be more here. There just had to. Rudy refused to give up. He wasn't going to leave this cave structure until he found something that proved that Snap was still alive.

He didn't know how long he had continued searching after that. He kept scouring around the Chalk Mine going down any tunnel he could think of. He didn't run into Biclops, but he also didn't find any evidence of Snap. No matter how long he looked, he couldn't find anything. His friends had already accepted the truth, but Rudy... he wanted to hold onto the belief that there was something. Anything...

His earnest attempts began to slow down and weaken as reality finally began to settle in. He stoon stopped moving the stick altogether, allowing the camera to remain still as well. He stared at the video screen, looking at the images of the blue chalk chamber as his mind went numb, racing with thoughts.

"No... Snap... No..." Rudy managed to whisper. He shook his head slowly. "H-He couldn't have been..."

He could feel Penny place her hands on his shoulders, looking at him sympathetically. She tried to put on a brave face for him. "He..He might have escaped but...with that... I-I don't know..." She couldn't speak anymore and she put her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Rudy..."

Rapsheeba and Blocky joined in. After all that time searching, after all the time that had passed, all of them, including Rudy, had to face the harsh reality of what had happened. The lack of a good struggle, the blood, and the lack of a trail leading anywhere meant that the memotrice must have gotten Snap. He was either captured or...

...or he was dead...

This realization struck through their hearts like a lightning bolt. Their bodies stiffened, swelling up with emotion. They struggled to hold back their tears, but they found they couldn't do this for very long. The emotional dam soon busted open, and their tears poured out in rapid seccession. They hugged each other tightly, pressing against one another, keeping close to each other. They tried their best to comfort one another.

The fact that Rudy and Penny stayed in ChalkZone for much longer than the recess limit did not find its way into their minds at that moment.

sss

"What do you mean he's gone...?" Mrs. Tabootie whispered as she held the phone to her head. A part of her couldn't believe the words she was hearing. "Are you sure that he...?"

"Yes." Mr. Wilter's voice cut through the air. There was an edge of bitterness to it. "Both Rudy Tabootie and Penny Sanchez vanished from school. They left for recess and now they are gone."

"Maybe they..." Mrs. Tabootie trailed off. What could she think of to defend her son? How could she justify this behavior?

Mr. Wilter was none too happy about this. She had never heard him this angry before. He had to deal with a lot of misbehaving students. His patience had always been tested. And now two students had gone missing. Two students whom he had more respect for than most of the others, even in spite of Rudy's obsession with drawing cartoons. She could only begin to imagine how this had affected him.

Mrs. Tabootie looked out of the nearby window. The driveway was still empty. Her husband hadn't come home from work yet. She bit her lip when she thought of him. Oh what was she going to tell him? Joe was going to be so mad when he found out that Rudy ditched school. And yet..she knew she would have no choice. Either she told him or he'd find out some other way.

But wait... There was another possibility. One that made her tense up, gripping her throat tightly as she struggled not to gag. If Rudy and Penny had both vanished, and if both of them are the type of kids who wouldn't do that, and she'd know as she knew them, especially her son, well, then the only other explaination was... No, she didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to consider the possibility that something like that had happened to her son and to his frirend. But...what if it was true...? What if...they were kidnapped...?

"I know what you must be thinking." Mr. Wilter's voice caught her attention. "You're not the only one who thought of that possibility." This time, he didn't sound as angry. Instead, he sounded more concerned than anything. "I also informed the police of their disappearance. If they find anything, they will let you know."

Mrs. Tabootie let out a sigh of relief at this. "Thank you, Mr. Wilter..."

"Mmm hmm..." She could imagine the man nodding his head at this. "Whenever they are found, please alert the school to the cause of disappearance. That will let the principal know if any action is required. If they were captured, then we won't do anything. It wouldn't be their fault, and we would just be glad to have them back. But if they left on their own accord... Well... I'm sorry to say this, but they will have to be punished."

"I know..." Mrs. Tabootie nodded her head. "I understand..."

"I knew you would." Mr. Wilter paused for a few moments. Then he said, "Well I need to get going. And Mrs. Tabootie?"

"Yes?"

"I'm...so sorry that this happened..."

With that, both of them hung up. Mrs. Tabootie stared at the phone for a few moments before she turned her attention to the outside. She watched as the trees swayed, the sun shining overhead. She eyed the empty driveway once more, imagining her husband coming home and her having to deliver the bad news.

She still flinched at the idea, but she would have to do it. As soon as he came home, she could tell him the news. The faster she told him, the better. Then they could comfort each other while they waited for word on their son, and on Penny. She hoped that they were both okay. Whether or not they ditched or they got kidnapped, either way, all she was hoping for right now was for their safe return. She would worry about punishments later.

The thought of Penny made her heart twist. She was certain that Mrs. Sanchez had also gotten a call about this. She wondered how she was taking it. The poor woman... She already had a lot of stress revolving around work. Now add to that the fact that her daughter was missing. And unlike her, she had no one she could console with. No husband to speak to. Without Penny, she was all alone in that household. Well there were the animals, but...they weren't going to be able to provide the comfort that woman needed.

With that resolve in mind, Mrs. Tabootie lifted the phone back up. She dialed the number and she listened to it ring. It rung a couple of times before she heard the click of it being picked up. In a matter of moments, she could hear the depressed-sounding voice of Mrs. Sanchez speak into the phone.

"Hello?"

Mrs. Tabootie, despite not being there to be seen, found herself giving a comfortabing smile. "Hey... would you like to talk?"


	9. Argumental Defensive

Rudy felt like such an idiot. He couldn't believe it took him this long to realize that he and Penny had been in ChalkZone for too long. They had been so caught up with what was happening, so worried for their friends, they failed to realize that time had been ticking too far. By the time they realized they were gone so long, it was already well too late. According to Penny, they would have been missing from school for at least an hour.

Rudy couldn't believe that much time had past already. He thought it was only a short time. Maybe at most fifteen minutes. Time really does fly when you're having fun..or in this case, when you're panicking and trying to find a friend. But he tried his best not to beat himself up over it and opted to just return to school as soon as possible.

He wasn't sure yet what the consequences were going to be. He and Penny had never done something like this before. He knew that Mr. Wilter was going to be so mad, and Principal Stringet wasn't going to be too happy with them either. He knew that, in some shape and form, they were going to get punished for this. Not as bad as Reggie as he did something much worse than skipping out on school. But this would surely turn up on their permanent records.

And that wasn't even getting into their parents. His stomach churned as he thought about them. What would his mom and dad say when they find out? It wasn't a matter of if; but when, as the school would have contacted them. His dad wasn't home yet but his mom was. If he went home and confronted his mother, what was she going to say? What about his dad? What were they going to do with him once he got home?

The thought made him unnerved, but he knew there wasn't much of a choice. He would have to confront them about this. He could only hope that he and Penny figured out something to tell their folks that they would buy, and that their folks would be understandable.

He hated the idea of worrying their folks. That was not something he had ever wanted to do. He felt awful at the idea of hurting them so much. He hoped that all this will be cleared up soon. Even if it was going to be rocky at first, he hoped that things would clear up soon and everything would be just fine.

He and Penny were on their way back to the portal now. Going back to the school would be the right thing to do. Even though neither of them had come up with a story yet, they still needed to at least get to the spot where the portal had been before, back at the school, and then figure out a plan from there. They did consider the option of staying to take care of this problem first, but neither of them wanted to torment their parents for longer, so the decision to go back was made, even if it was going to be difficult figuring out an explanation.

Rudy had remembered to take the spy cam out of the Chalk Mine. Even though Biclops would not be able to see it, Penny felt it would be best if he took it out, on the off chance that the giant figured out something. It was best to keep making the giant believe that he and Penny hadn't attempted to go near the Chalk Mine.

For now, they still had enough chalk, but now they had to conserve it. They had split the chalk given to them before the incident between themselves, and both of them could now only use the chalk when they absolutely needed to. If they ran out, it meant going to the Chalk Mine. With Biclops most likely turned against them, tricked into believing they were his enemies no doubt, they would have a much harder time. No longer could they just waltz in, greet the giant, and get some chalk. If they show up, the giant would attack them.

Rudy shuddered at the memories of Biclops's attack on him when he first came to the Chalk Mine. Granted, the giant didn't really hurt him, but he remembered that almost villainous look in his eyes. If given the chance, the giant would have hurt him. No doubt that Biclops would try the same thing again, only this time, he wouldn't pause or hold back. He'd try to pound him into the ground.

He was grateful that Penny had thought of drawing a map of ChalkZone before. A bit more detailed than the one he had. They had done plenty of exploriating around these parts, as these were the sections he and his friends most often visited. So they had a lot of details of the area around the Chalk Mine itself. Penny proposed that they could use an alternate route to get to there. Perhaps sneak in from behind or below. Then they could sneak into the main white chalk chamber and take some pieces.

This was easier said than done, however. Biclops would keep a sharp eye out for them and would look for anything out of place. He may very well have excellent hearing, too, and come storming in before they could even get that far into the mine, let alone get any new chalk.

For now, they decided to focus on conserving the chalk and only coming into ChalkZone after school to reduce the number of portals created, and talk with each other then about what they were going to do.

There was little they could do for Biclops; even if they could restore his memory, the memotrice could always change it right back to the corrupted version. They would need to find a way to stop the memotrice itself. Such an act was not going to be easy, but Rudy and Penny were both determined to stop it before it hurt anyone else.

At this, Rudy couldn't help but think of Snap. His heart twisted at the memory of finding the torn piece of cloth and the blood. They weren't really sure if Snap were dead or captured. Either way, it left a bitter taste in his mouth. His heart twisted at the thought of Snap being hurt by that fiend, or even by Biclops influenced by the memotrice. The only thing he could be sure of was that Snap couldn't have been changed as well; the fact that the memotrice had him injured was proof of that. Whatever happened, he would make the memotrice pay for it.

He made a silent promise to himself. He would avenge Snap, whether he was dead or alive. He didn't deserve what happened to him. Nobody messed with his friends and got away with it.

Absolutely no one.

Rudy stopped when he noticed Penny had abruptly haulted. He was about to ask what was going on when he realized they had finally made it back to the spot where the portal was. She looked over at him, giving him a certain look that he recognized the hidden meaning of. It was now or never. It was time to head back.

Raising up the magic chalk, Rudy pressed it against the air, where the side of the building would be present. He drew a circle slowly, allowing the portal to flash with light and form. In seconds, he and Penny could both see the playground, the fence, and the street and buildings beyond that. They looked at one another and, giving a reassuring nod, they both climbed through. Rudy turned and erased the portal using his hand, a method he usually didn't try often.

It took seconds for him to realize that he and Penny hadn't thought of any plan yet. His eyes widened at this realization and he was about to open up another portal. But by that point, it was already too late.

"Hey!" A voice called out.

Rudy and Penny stiffened at the voice, their eyes widened. Neither of them had expected to get spotted so quickly. Neither of them thought they had this little time to think of something. But as they turned to face the source of the voice, they realized the hard way that they should have stayed behind longer to figure something out.

There, standing not far away, was an officer. Not Officer O'Larry, but someone else they didn't recognize. A tall, boxy-looking man that seemed middle-aged. He had stern features on his face and he looked like he would take no nonsense from them. His hands were placed against his hips firmly and the glare he was giving them seemed to almost cut right through them. They saw the way his brown eyes were glinting, complimented by the thin mustache on top of his upper lip.

"Hello, children..." The man spoke in a low voice. "I am Officer Keb. And you two..." He took a step forward, eyeing the two children in an almost cold manner. "...must be the brats that escaped this school."

Rudy and Penny remained frozen. Although all instinct was telling them to run, they couldn't bring themselves to move. Both of them knew what would happen if they tried to run away from the police. All they could manage was a small step backwards, but neither attempted to bolt into a run. Not even as the man came close to them, adopting that posture.

"You two are in so much trouble."

"W-We... That is...we..." Rudy stammered. He couldn't think of anything to say and his voice trailed off.

Penny took a step forward and made her attempt. "It's not what it looks like. We were just..." She struggled to find the words to say. "W-We were..." But even she couldn't think of anything. They glanced at each other, wishing that they had stayed in ChalkZone first before coming out.

They let out a yelp of pain as the officer grabbed them roughly by the arms. They instinctively pulled themselves back as the man began to drag them towards the building. Any attempt to get free was futile. The man's grasp was just too strong for them. The man wasn't being particularly gentle either, not bothering to slow down for them, forcing them to pick up the pace as they headed towards the school building.

The fact that this officer was being so rough on them shocked them. They were being treated as though they were criminals. Sure skipping school was bad, but that was better than, say, pulling a gun to someone's head. But neither of them tried to argue against the man, and they eventually gave up the fight and allowed him to continue dragging them like this.

Getting up the steps was the hardest part. Officer Keb would just yank them and expect them to make the steps with ease. He did not care if their legs hit against the edge of the steps and cause them to cry out in pain. He just continued yanking them roughly, even going as far as drag them along the ground for a few seconds after they lost their footing. The fact that no one was around to witness the rough treatment likely encouraged this behavior.

"Please stop this!" Rudy cried when he couldn't take any more. "We... We can walk!"

"You're being too..." Penny started to say.

"Shut up!" Officer Keb suddenly yanked them up into the air, letting them dangle. "You two should have thought more clearly beforer you decided to ditch school!"

"This isn't very professional..." Penny said.

Officer Keb narrowed his eyes. "I don't care..." The two children widened their eyes at this. "Now shut your mouth and let's get going."

The two children didn't dare try saying another word as the man resumed dragging them. They soon reached the entrance of the school building, entering the empty hallways of the school. The fact that no one was around to see this did little to comfort them. This man obviously didn't care if he was caught being rough with them. The fact that there were cameras around was likely the only reason he didn't take it a step further.

When they got to the principal's office, Rudy and Penny had never felt so relieved to be there. The man's grip on them loosened up and he shoved them forward. The lack of tension on their arms felt good, and they rubbed their arms gently to try to get some of the uncomfortable sensation off of their skin.

Officer Keb leaned forward and pounded on the door, causing Rudy and Penny to move aside. When the door opened up, revealing the principal, he said, "I found those two brats you were looking for."

At this, Principal Stringet narrowed her eyes. "You don't have to call them that." The man didn't answer. She turned her attention to Rudy and Penny. Her eyes flashed a mixture of relief and anger. "There you two are! Do you have any idea how much you had your parents and us worried?!"

Rudy and Penny didn't say a word. They lowered their heads, both feeling a pang of shame. Neither of them had ever wanted to worry their folks or anyone that cared about them. They both wished they had been more careful. They could have avoided this if they weren't so...so stupid.

But then again, finding out more of what happened in ChalkZone was important, wasn't it? Their friends there were in trouble. If they didn't look for answers then, would they have found enough to piece together what happened to Snap? Or Biclops? Would Rapsheeba and Blocky still been on their side or would they have been corrupted as well?

In the end, they both had to admit, despite not wanting to worry their folks so much, things could have been so much worse if they did not take this risk. Sometimes, there wasn't much of a choice.

That didn't make this situation any easier, however.

"You are dismissed, Officer Keb. Thank you." Principal Stringet said. Her tone was polite, but her soft glare at him showed how much she still disapproved of his treatment of them.

"Hmph. Whatever." Officer Keb gave one more hard glare at Rudy and Penny before he turned and left.

Once he was gone, Principal Stringet turned to them. Her glare softened up slightly, but the anger and disappointment was still there. "Don't worry about him." She said, attempting to reassure them. "Now...come in my office." She motioned with her hand. "We need to talk. You two are in so much trouble."

"Yeah..we know..." Rudy lowered his head.

"We're sorry." Penny added.

"It's going to take a lot more than 'sorry' to fix this." Principal Stringet said to them, folding her arms against her chest. She watched as the two students walked into her office, their heads hanging low. "You two should be ashamed. I would have thought you two would know better than to skip out on school."

As Rudy and Penny entered the office, they looked back at her sadly.

"We can explain..." Rudy whispered, despite the fact that he and Penny still weren't sure what they were going to tell the woman.

Principal Stringet remained silent as she shut the door behind her. She motioned for them to sit down in the chairs near her desk. She then walked over around the desk, taking her place in her swinging office chair. She placed her hands on her desk, the fingers curving inward as she flexed them. She stared at them long and hard for a few moments before she finally broke the uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sure you can." Her tone didn't make it sound like she believed them too much. "Now..." She leaned herself forward slightly, her dark eyes boring through theirs. "Tell me. Why did you two ditch school?"

sss

Biclops let out a low growl as he did a third patrol around the front tunnels of the Chalk Mine. He had sworn he heard something earlier. Like a low buzzing sound. Like some annoying fly, or some nasty trick Rudy was trying to pull on him. Even with the absence of any such device, he couldn't feel safe until he looked around again, just to make sure.

He did feel some level of satisfactory when he found that, indeed, there was nothing. He may have just been hearing things. Or perhaps it was just a fly zoner or something. It was possible.

He tried not to get himself too worked up. He needed to be vigilant and alert. Rudy and Penny could try coming to the mine at any time. He needed to prepare for them. If he were too busy thining about the what-ifs and all that, then how was he going to properly deal with them? He couldn't allow them to take advantage of his situation. He knew how creators were. He knew how they were. They could strike without mercy. He had to prevent that, no matter the cost.

He did feel a little safer with the traps that Snap helped set him up with. He was glad that Snap was finally able to get away from those two. He couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for him. Those two had him on a practical leash, so to speak. Well at least he was free now. All that burden now lifted up from that small zoner's shoulders. Now he could help him get back at them and stop them before they hurt anyone else.

He felt so sorry for the small zoner. He had recounted his encounter with Rudy and Penny not too long ago. They had apparently fed him a tainted cookie only about... a couple days ago if he remembered right. They waited until he was unconscious and they stripped him to a table. They performed unspeakable experiments on him. He was lucky to have escaped. If Skrawl hadn't shown up and gotten him out of there, then Rudy and Penny likely would have went much further. The thought of it made him cringe.

He had dealt with many dangerous creators in the past. But from what he was seeing, Rudy and Penny were the most dangerous and deranged of all. This made him bite his lip nervously. He would do what he could to keep them from getting more chalk, but he wouldn't be able to stop them from hurting another zoner; they had some pieces of chalk still. He would go after them himself, but he feared abandoning the mine would only encourage them to take more. And then what?

Skrawl's plan seemed to be the best thing they could do. Wait until they used the chalk. Those two would eventually run out at some point. The idea of letting more zoners suffer at their hands was uncomfortable. He knew that Snap as well wanted to rush over and do something about it, especially when it came to protecting Rapsheeba and Blocky, whom he was particularly close to. But they both had to admit that it would be less dangerous if they waited for them to run out.

Then once they were out, they could go after them. Well Skrawl was anyway, as well as Thoughtless. They would capture the fiends and bring them to his lair to be dealt with swiftly before they could cause any more problems. Although trapping them outside of ChalkZone might be a safer option, he didn't really care how they were dealt with, so long as they couldn't hurt ChalkZone anymore. A public execution might be a good option in that case. He was certain that many zoners would love to see the two trouble makers get what they deserved.

He decided that he had done enough patrolling. There was no one in there. He was thankful for only one entrance into the mine. He began to head towards the entrance of it. It didn't take him long before he reached the white chalk chamber.

He paused and he stared at it. His large eyes trailed over them, feeling a sense of bitterness rise inside of him. He formed a fist with his hand, shaking it. Oh all the pain and suffering that the magic chalk had caused ChalkZone... With its granting humans the ability to create anything, including any form of weaponry... He was tempted to swat the chalk and crush it. The only thing preventing him was his promise years ago. The promise to guard the chalk from anyone who dares to use it. Maybe not the best reason to most, but it was enough to prevent him from destroying the chalk.

Besides, it wasn't its fault that this was happening. The magic chalk doesn't mean to hurt anyone. It was those blasted humans. Filthy disgusting humans... So many of them caused much grief to ChalkZone. Now two more were roaming around, doing who knows what... He wished he could grab them in his hands and crush them into dust.

But no. He had to follow Skrawl's plan. Wait for them to run out before taking action. And he needed to stay in the Chalk Mine to keep them from getting more.

He felt grateful for Skrawl's help. He had been doing what he could to stop Rudy and Penny. He was the only one brave enough to stand up to them. He had been beaten time and again, but he still went after them. What a trooper... What a brave guy he was... He hoped that he'd be able to keep this up long enough so they could finally get rid of them once and more all. He would be glad to repay Rudy for how he had rearranged his eyes rather painfully. He could still feel the dull aches from that.

But for now, he would continue guarding the mine. It was all he could do.

He soon reached the entrance of the mine. He walked outside and stepped in front of the opening. He folded his arms against his chest, his narrowed eyes looking left and right as he tried to find any sign of those two. So far so good, but he knew that could change in a heartbeat. He waited, looking, watching.

Those two won't get by him. He will count his life on that.

sss

Snap tried his hardest not to throw up at the smell of raw meat as Thoughtless ate its meal. Despite his attempts, the smell continued to move through his nostrils, forcing him to breathe through his mouth for a while.

Thoughtless was a carnivorous beast. It preferred hunting prey, killing with its savage-looking claws. It used its sharp beak and teeth to tear off pieces of meat from the small body of a chalk mouse it had caught earlier. The poor thing had been scurrying about and the memotrice had found it. It was no contest and the thing died as soon as the talons were pressed into the body. Well, it was better it than some sentient zoner.

He remained seated in Skrawl's couch. He leaned against the back, keeping his head turned away from the sight. He could still hear the sound of slippery, wet meat being ripped up and swallowed, the slight crack of pieces of bone. He could feel a cold shudder move through his body at this. At least the process would be over quite soon, and he would be free of this noise for a while. He tried to refocus his attention on other things of his surroundings. For instance, the place he was located at right now.

It was rather strange, sitting in the couch of his savior. He knew that Skrawl didn't really like company all that much. He was never too friendly a zoner to being with. But when it came with dealing with Rudy and Penny, he could see why he would be so embittered.

Snap couldn't really believe himself for trusting those two for so long. How could he have been so...so blind and stupid? The others had seen the warning signs. Especially Skrawl. That was why the jellybean had been going up against them. He knew they were evil. And he was trying to deal with them. He felt a sting of guilt for not realizing this sooner.

Well, the memory of what happened to him recently, which he had pushed aside due to the trauma of it, that was enough to make him realize that he had been wrong about those two. He could still feel cold shudders move through his body at the memory of that day. He tried so hard not to scream, forcing his jaws against each other tightly, clenching them.

It had been a regular day. He and his friends...no, his former friends.. had been going up to this tree that grew cookies. They had been excited to get some samples. No more than he, as he had been eyeing them up, but never got a chance to try one. After they managed to get a few, Rudy had given him one. It smelled weird, but he didn't think anything of it and he ate it. He didn't remember much after that, other than feeling a little nauseaous.

When his vision cleared of the blackness, it must have been about an hour or so later. He was strapped down to an operating table. And there were Rudy and Penny, wearing gloves and doctors' outfits. He had asked them what was going on, but they only smiled at him before getting out some instruments.

He dare not recall the full details of what happened after that. He remembered the pain of the fluids Penny put on him. He remembered the cuts Rudy had given him. He remembered their laughter, their excitement over the results they were getting. They were no longer treating him like a friend, or even a fellow sentient person. They were treating him only as a specimen. An animal they had caught to be used for their sick, twisted purposes.

All his trust had melted away, replaced only by fear, and later, hatred. He swore at them, told them that they would regret betraying him. They didn't care. They just got out some more instruments, and showed intent on vivisecting him. He struggled to get himself away, but nothing he did worked. He was trapped. All he could do was watch in fear and horror as the spinning blade was lowered to his chest, Rudy's smile looking more twisted than anything he had seen Skrawl muster up.

And speaking of that jellybean, it was he who had burst through the doors and swatted them away. It was he who had pulled him from the table and took him here to be treated. It was he who had been his savior. The one that he had hated before and thought was the enemy...had ultimately saved his life. He owed a great deal to him.

That was why he had pledged his loyalty to Skrawl. He needed to pay him back. He had a debt that he owed to him. For saving his life, he would make it his life's mission to stop Rudy and Penny before they could experiment on another zoner, or even himself again. He looked down at his arm, which had long healed from what happened. He could still feel the pain of the scalpel in there. He shuddered, trying to push the uncomfortable memory aside.

He could hear the clinging of claw tips against the ground. He took the chance and turned his head. He could see that the memotrice had finished its meal. The bones, cartiledge, and some pieces of meat and skin still remaining of the mouse caught the attention of his eyes. He immediately turned his eyes away from it, not wanting to feel sick again.

The memotrice moved towards him, its eyes filled with curiosity. (You look troubled.(

Snap stared at the memotrice for a few moments. He then turned his head away. "I must look like a lot of things." He answered simply.

Thoughtless nodded its head. (Indeed. Being betrayed by those you trust is not an easy thing to deal with.) Snap didn't say anything to this. Thoughtless jumped up next to him, its slit pupils staring at him intently. (You do not need to fear. You are safe here.)

Snap growled at this. "Yes I know that!" He raised his hands up at this. "But those two are still free, aren't they?! They might...!" He stopped talking after that. He could feel himself getting worked up. He couldn't let his anger cloud him. He knew what would happen if he did. "I'm sorry..." He finally said. "I guess I just...don't understand. How...how could they do this to me?"

Thoughtless furrowed its eyes in sympathy. (It can be hard to understand. Some people are just... I'm not sure what the right term would be. Not right in the head?)

"After the way they tried to dissect me, that would certainly fit those two." Snap said bitterly.

(I do not doubt that.) Thoughtless moved in a little closer. It lowered its head and pushed up against him, almost a show of affection. Snap didn't do anything in return. If anything, it caused him to lean further away from the beast. He could still smell the gore and remnants of blood and pieces of flesh still remained on the beak. Thoughtless seemed to understand and immediately pulled its head back. My apologies. It jumped back a little further, and it continued. (I can recognize that look in your eyes. You would like to go after them yoursef.)

"Since I spent the most time with them, it would make sense for me to be the one to do something about them." Snap answered.

(That is true. But we can't put you at risk. Try to control yourself.)

"I am under control!"

(You harbor much anger, which can be useful. But do not let that turn into rage. You might walk into another of their traps.)

Snap growled at this. He didn't need this memotrice telling him what to do. He wasn't stupid. He knew better than to approach a freaking human. A species not of this world, who can use the magic chalk. He had seen what Rudy could do with it, and Penny that one time. If they decided to use it against him... Unless he was lucky, he'd stand no chance.

"Do you think I'm a moron?" Snap asked, his voice embittered.

The memotrice shook its head. (Not at all. I just don't want you running in blind. I'm concerned for you.)

"I'm flattered." Snap's voice took a sarcastic tone there.

Thoughtless ignored the tone and took a small step forward, lowering its head slightly as it stared at him with great intent. (I do sense a lot of strength in you. For one like yourself to endure all that and still function normally...) The memotrice paused as it listened to Snap's snort. (..almost normally... that is truly incredible.)

Snap scoffed at this. "If you say so." He looked away. After a few moments, he looked back. "Do you think we will be able to stop them? Keep them from hurting anyone else?"

Thoughtless nodded its head. (As long as we stick to the plan, for sure.)

"That means I can't go out yet." Snap stated simply.

(Unfortunately, no. I know how much you want to get back at them, but the risk is too great.) Snap nodded his head quietly at this. (However, once Skrawl and I catch them, we will bring them back and you can have your way with them.)

Snap looked at the memotrice intently at this. He could envision it all in his head. Imagine after image came flooding to him, encircling around his head like a storm cloud. Thoughts that made his hands tingle in anticipation.

Those two screaming.

Those two being cut open.

Their blood.

Their pain.

Retribution.

That made him ask a simple, yet powerful question.

"So I can do anything I want to them?"

Thoughtless was quiet for a few moments. A few seconds later, it nodded its head slowly. (Yes.)

Snap didn't answer as he felt his mouth curve into a smile. Oh how he was going to enjoy making those two pay...

sss

"Do you two realize what you have done?!"

"You were lucky you didn't get hurt!"

Penny kept her head low as Principal Stringet and Mr. Wilter yelled at them after they mentioned what happened. Or at least, the story she had given, which ended up not being all that great. She had panicked at the last second and did not make things any better. She had tried to take it back and reexplain, but would it even work at this point?

She looked over and she could see Rudy's head lowered, his face flinching as the adults kept scolding them. She could see the hurt and shame in his eyes, the belief that he should have known better and had been able to prevent this. She hoped that he would come to understand that this wasn't his fault. They were both so caught up that it was easy for them to overlook this. Besides, it wasn't like they had ditched their family for something unimportant. The safety of ChalkZone was kind of a high priority.

That didn't mean that she didn't feel guilty for worrying her mother. Their parents had been called and would be picking them up. She could only begin to imagine the look on her mother's face when she came in. She was going to be relieved at first, but after that wears off, then what?

She looked back up at the two adults. She could see that they were not yet done with them. A fact that did not surprise her.

"We would have expected better from you two! You're a couple of my better students, especially you, Penny!" Mr. Wilter glared at the girl. "And then you two and do...do this!" He raised his hand up. His face was etched in anger. "How could you do something so stupid?!"

Penny flinched at this, as did Rudy. Neither of them could answer that. What could they say to that?

"I don't want to do this, but I'm going to have to take action." Principal Stringet got out a couple of folders. The two children immediately recognized it as theirs. "I hate doing this. But you two have left me with no choice. I'm going to have to put you two on suspension."

"Suspension?!" Rudy and Penny cried in unison.

"Yes." The large woman narrowed her eyes at them. "If you two didn't want this, then you shouldn't have ditched school. I'm very disappointed in you two. I can only begin to imagine what your folks are going to do."

Mr. Wilter nodded his head. "Be grateful you don't live in my childhood. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to sit down for a week."

The children didn't need further elaboration to know what this man was talking about. They weren't really worried about something like that happening anyway, however they were concerned about what else they might do. There was something that could be done that would really put a hamper on things. And that was if they barred them from ChalkZone. All they'd have to do is take away their chalkboard and that was it, and if they couldn't go to school...

The thought chilled Penny's blood, and she knew that Rudy was worried about this same scenario as well. At the moment, there wasn't much to hint that their parents would do this. But there was still that possibility and if they ended up trapped outside of ChalkZone, then that would leave Skrawl and the memotrice free to do whatever they wanted. They could brainwash more zoners to do their bidding or to just turn them against them or even give them false information to lead them into a trap. Without her and Rudy in ChalkZone, there would be little resistance for Skrawl to worry about. So much damage could be done, and there'd be nothing they could do about it.

Her ears soon filled with the scribbling of Principal Stringet's pen. The woman was writing on a blue slip of paper. She had two of them out. She had that same disappointed frown on her face and a look of reluctance. She clearly didn't want to do this, but she was the principal and it was her job. Penny couldn't be mad at her for doing her job, but she knew that, in the end, she was going to make it harder for her and Rudy to protect ChalkZone.

"Here." The large woman said after she finished writing on them. She placed the slips down and pushed them forward. "Give these to your parents when they come."

"I'm sure they will be quite proud." Mr. Wilter said in an almost bitter tone.

Penny ignored it while she and Rudy took the paper. She looked down at it and scanned it side to side with her eyes. The slip was for a suspension of a complete school week. Not as long as she thought it was going to be, but she knew it was going to damage her grade. She could only just imagine how disappointed her mother would be, especially after all the hard work she put into keeping her grade as high as possible.

She looked over at Rudy and watched his worried expression. His grades were already not great. Well they weren't horrible. He wasn't flunking or anything. But some of his grades weren't the best, and this was going to hurt them even more. She knew that his parents wanted him to try harder and study more and get better grades. But when they see this... She already knew that they were going to be more upset than her mother was going to be with her. She couldn't imagine what his parents are going to do when they find out.

The only thing she could think of doing is offering to tutor Rudy during their suspended week. If she did that, maybe the Tabooties would be a bit lighter on their son's punishment. And maybe that would also offer a small window of opportunity for them to help out ChalkZone. This time, they would take care not to disappear for such a long time. She doubted their folks would be so merciful this time around.

The sound of distant footsteps filled the air. They were getting gradually closer and closer. Penny knew what this meant. Her mother and Rudy's parents had arrived at the school. She could feel her heart speeding up as the sound got louder. She and Rudy watched nervously as they watched a shadow forming along the wall.

Then the door opened up, and in came their parents.

Rudy and Penny couldn't help but flinch when they saw their parents' expressions. They could see the glares etched deeply on their faces, the narrowed eyes, the pained worry. They had never seen their parents like this before. They had hoped they never would have to see them with those expressions. But as they learned the hard way, life didn't always go the way they had hoped. They remained silent as their parents walked over towards them, their arms slowly folding as they glared at them with such great disapproval.

The lack of them speaking only seemed to make the whole thing worse. Penny had thought that their parents would yell at them, but they did nothing. Just glare at them in silence, standing by them, but no words were spoken nor any action taken. The looks they were giving them hinted at so many different punishments, making her fear even more about what was going to happen to them.

She kept her attention on her mother. She saw how upset she looked. She could see her eyes practically glowing behind her glasses. What hurt the most were the red stains on her cheeks. Her mother had been worried sick about her, only to find out that she had ditched school. She could only imagine how angry her mother must have been when she found that the reason she was missing was because she had left school on her own accord. Even if she tried to tell her mother otherwise, she doubted it would do any good at this point.

"So..." Mr. Tabootie finally spoke after a long, uncomfortable silence. "What's the punishment for them...?"

"They are to be suspended for five school days." Principal Stringet said. She pointed at the two children. "I had given them the slips."

"Give them to your parents, children." Mr. Wilter said, his eyes narrowing. "Now."

The two children did what they were told. They handed their slips to their mothers, who took them away from them with a little too much force. The two children cringed slightly at this, turning their heads to the side. They found it difficult to keep eye contact with their parents.

Even when reading the slips, the parents still didn't seem to react much. They were glaring, yes. They were clearly mad, but they only made this apparent in their facial expression. The rest of their body language and their voices were quite calm and almost serene. Even as they made a few comments about the punishment, including how it was going to hurt them academically, they did so in such a calm voice. It was really uncomfortable. Penny almost wished that their parents would do something, anything. They were like a walking time bomb and they were only making things worse by not saying anything.

"I see..." Penny heard her mother say. She nodded her head slowly. "We understand."

Mr. Tabootie, who now held the note his wife gave him, stared at it long and hard. He looked down at Rudy for a few moments, giving him a brief, disappointed look, before he turned back to the principal and teacher. "We will take care of the rest."

The two kids flinched at this. They gave each other nervous glances. They already had a good idea of what Mr. Tabootie was referring to when he said this.

"We are sorry it had to come to this." Mr. Wilter said, his voice tinged with genuine remorse. "We had hoped something nothing like this ever happened."

"Yeah...? So did we." Mrs. Tabootie said quietly, almost bitterly. She glared at the two children as did the other three adults, making Penny and Rudy turn their heads away in shame. She let out a sigh. "We do thank you for getting our children back."

Mr. Wilter nodded his head. "You are welcome."

"However, if they do this again, we will have to look into a more severe punishment." Principal Stringet warned. "Understand me?" She addressed this to Rudy and Penny. The two children nodded their heads quickly. "Good." She looked at the parents and nodded her head once. "You can leave now."

Mr. Tabootie glared down at Rudy and Penny. "Come along, children. We will discuss your punishment when we get back..."

Rudy and Penny didn't try to say anything. They simply nodded their heads and began to follow their parents out of the principal's office. They kept their heads lowered in shame as they walked down the hallways between their parents, who took position on either side of them as if they thought they were going to run off again.

They soon came outside of the building. They were guided down the steps, and soon they came into the parking lot. The parents had come in separate cars. They were parked in different locations in the lot, a bit far away from each other. Rudy and Penny stared at each other one last time before their parents forced them to separate, following their respective parents to their own car.

Penny climbed in the passenger's seat of her mother's car. She felt the car shift and she looked over to see her mother sitting there. She gave her mother a nervous smile, which caused her mother to scowl at her, wiping away her weak smile. Penny gave a small shudder and she looked away from her mother. She looked out the window depressively as her mother began to drive them home.

sss

"How could you do this?! We raised you better than this!"

"Dad, I..."

"And to make it worse, you dragged Penny with you, too! Did you want her to get into trouble as well so you wouldn't be alone?!"

"No...dad...please..."

"I just can't believe you!"

Never before had Mr. Tabootie been so angry with his son. Never before had his blood heated up to this temperature because of Rudy. He had been angry before, whether it was at that arrogant Marty or at something else. He had even been upset with Rudy in the past. But none of that compared to the anger and disappoint he felt when he found out what his boy had done.

He never thought that his son would be the type to ditch school. His grades were already in trouble in some areas as it was, and to ditch school and to get suspended... He couldn't believe Rudy would do something so stupid and hurt his academic career like this. Why would he do something so stupid?

He only wanted what was best for him. He just wanted Rudy to see how important it was to get good grades in school so he could get into a good college when he gets older, so he could get an actual good job. This is going to hamper that. He knew that, somewhere down the line, this was going to come bite him back in the butt. And it could have been avoided if he had just stayed in school. Instead, he chose to wander away from school with Penny, doing who knows what.

Although Rudy tried to explain, at the moment, he didn't care. He didn't want to hear excuses. All he could see before him was his idiot of as on who left school, disobeying the law in the process, got caught by the police, and got suspended. Nothing Rudy told him was going to make what he did okay.

"Rudy, I... I'm trying so hard not to be so mad at you.. But it's so difficult." Mr. Tabootie pressed his fingers against his scalp. His fingernails dug against his skin, nearly piercing right through it. "I never thought you'd do something like this.. Do you have any idea how lucky you were that it didn't get any worse?!"

Rudy let out a soft whimper, lowering his head. "Dad..I'm...I'm sorry.."

Mr. Tabootie growled softly at this. "Well sorry isn't going to fix this, now is it?" His voice was a little colder than he had intended, but in the heat of the moment, he couldn't really notice. "You already need some help in school to get a couple of those weak grades up. But now your grade point average is going to suffer tremendously because of all the work you're going to miss. All those zeros, Rudy..."

"Dad..." Rudy started to say.

"Just imagine all those zeros!" Mr. Tabootie spread his hands outward. "They're going to add up, Rudy! And if you have an important test that work, that's going to be even worse!"

Rudy shivered under his father's loud voice. He took a small step back, going closer to his bunk bed. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but he soon closed his mouth. Perhaps he had finally realized that there was nothing he could say right now that was going to help him feel any better about this. In fact, any word his son was saying to him only made him feel angry about this. Perhaps he should leave now, but he couldn't get himself to do anything except glower down at his son.

His wife was sitting downstairs. She wasn't in the mood to talk to Rudy right now. She was so disappointed in Rudy. She probably had a lot of things she wanted to tell him, but she decided to leave it all up to him. He would decide the punishment.

He didn't want to ground Rudy. That would be too easy. He didn't think that would be good enough to show him how much he had screwed up. He wanted to do something that Rudy would remember very easily. Something that would stick to him, that he could call back upon whenever he tried something crazy like that again. Something that would affect him deeply.

His eyes soon settled upon the chalkboard. His eyes gave a twinkle. The chalkboard. Of course. That would be perfect. Rudy loved to draw on that thing. If he took it away from him during his suspension, then he would guarantee that Rudy would remember this day. Besides, Rudy could use a few days without that thing anyway. With that in mind, he began to make his way towards the large chalkboard.

"D-Dad...? What are you doing..?" Rudy asked softly. Mr. Tabootie didn't answer as he got closer. Rudy took a few steps forward, reaching out towards him. "Y-You're not..." A pause, a shaky breath. "Dad..."

"I'm sorry, Rudy. But it's for your own good." Mr. Tabootie grabbed onto the large chalkboard. "Maybe this will teach you not to skip school next time."

The man began to make his way towards the door holding the chalkboard against himself. He was about to reach it when he felt the chalkboard suddenly yank back. He let out a grunt and he felt himself being moved slightly to one side. He looked down and he could see that Rudy had grabbed onto the board.

"Rudy! Let go!" Mr. Tabootie demanded.

"Give it back...please!" Rudy pleaded with him. He pulled back as hard as he could, his teeth clenched tightly. "Y-You can't do this!"

Mr. Tabootie bared his teeth at this. How dare his son try to tell him what to do... He wasn't the one in charge here. He wasn't the one who goes to work to earn money and buys the groceries. He wasn't the one who was worrying about the bills of the house and keeping everything running around here. Rudy was the one who had skipped out on school and got himself suspended. Did he really think that he had authority to tell him to do anything?

With a single hard yank, he ripped the chalkboard away from Rudy, forcing it out of his hands. The boy let out a grunt and he stumbled forward. Rudy quickly regained his footing and he rushed over towards him. Mr. Tabootie narrowed his eyes and he tossed the chalkboard out of the door. He heard the loud thud of the thing hitting the ground, but he did not pay attention, his eyes glued to his son. He reached over and he grabbed Rudy by the arm and pulled him back into the room.

Rudy struggled against his grasp. He kept shouting at him about how it wasn't fair and that he shouldn't be doing this. Mr. Tabootie struggled to keep himself as calm as possible as he dragged his son further into the room, away from the door. He held onto his shoulders tightly and soon stopped in the middle of the room. Rudy jerked himself from side to side, yelling to be freed. But Mr. Tabootie only tightened his grip.

"Rudy! Cut this out!" Mr. Tabootie growled at his son. "You are making this harder than it needs to be!"

Rudy stared up at him with wide, desperate-filled eyes. "Please...bring it back! Please! Y-You don't understand...!"

"Oh, I don't? Then tell me, Rudy. Why do you need that chalkboard so badly?" Asked Mr. Tabootie. When Rudy failed to answer that beyond a few 'ums', he narrowed his eyes slightly. "I thought so. Rudy, you need to accept responsibility for what you've done, and this is the only way to make you see. If you love your chalkboard so much, then maybe this will be a lesson to you. Maybe now you will not do something stupid like this again."

"But it was only one time..." Rudy started to say.

"Once is all it takes for you to get in trouble!" Snarled Mr. Tabootie. "What if someone had taken you?! Do you think your mother and I would have been happy to get news like that?! How do you think we would have felt?!"

Rudy lowered his gaze at this, looking to one side. "I..." His voice trailed off.

"And the fact that you dragged Penny down with you just makes this whole thing even worse! She is in trouble now because of you! I don't know what you were thinking when you left school, but I... Gah!" Mr. Tabootie's hands trembled, his fingers arching into almost claw-like formations. His teeth were getting a little exposed as the anger underneath was boiling its way to the surface. "I just..don't get it... Where did we go wrong with you?!"

Rudy flinched at the shere volume of his voice. He took a small step backwards, his body hunching forward, his head lowering a little more. A part of Mr. Tabootie was feeling a little guilty at this. But the anger boiling inside of him was preventing him from taking the appropriate action.

"Please...I learned my lesson. Please give it back..." Rudy's voice was a little softer than before. He stared up at him, his green eyes staring straight into him. "Please..."

But Mr. Tabootie had no intention on backing down from his punishment. He simply folded his arms and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Rudy. But that's the way it's going to be. You can say goodbye to your chalkboard for five days. You will do fine without it." He made a dismissive gesture towards his various sketchbooks. "You still have that you can play with anyway."

Rudy shook his head. "No! Please! You can't...!" He grabbed onto his sleeve and tugged on it. "Y-You just can't..."

Mr. Tabootie growled at this and he yanked his arm back, freeing himself easily from his son's grasp. "Don't you dare tell me what I can't do, Rudy! I'm your father! I'm the provider of this house! You do nothing to contribute! Don't sit there and try to tell me what I, the head of this household, can and can't do! That is not your place! You are my son and you will do what I say!"

Rudy took in a few deep breaths, staring at him with wide-eyes. Then his eyes narrowed a little, and he noticed his lip curling up a little. "Y-Yeah... you sure do a lot! You just stand there and sell meat!" Mr. Tabootie's eyes widened at this. "What could you possibly know of taking care of..."

Clenching his teeth tightly, Mr. Tabootie snapped, "You ungrateful little brat! Do you have any idea how hard it is working at that shop! Or any shop?! Do you know how many hours I work just to put some food in front of you, keep a roof over your head, keep clothes on your body?! What do you know about taking care of a family?!"

"But you could never..."

Mr. Tabootie did not let the boy finish. In a seething rage, he struck Rudy across the face, his palm colliding with his cheek. The boy let out a cry of pain as his head was jerked to the side roughly. The boy held his head there, his body giving a quick shake, before he slowly turned it and stared up at his father slowly.

For several moments, silence fell upon the room. The only thing that could be heard was ragged breathing, some of it with a slight growly tinge. Mr. Tabootie glared down at his son, his pupils likely shrunk into dots at this point. His mouth was open and he constantly seethed his breaths in and out. His eyes bore through his son's, locking in a glare that was difficult to look away from. The air around him was growing thicker and heavier. He was almost amazed by how he was still able to lean forward like this without toppling over.

The back of his mind burned, feeling as though something had set it on fire. He continued glaring at his son, his vision unable to see anything except the small child. How dare his son speak to him in such a manner... How dare he try to trivialize what he does for this family... Did he have any idea what he goes through on a day to day basis just to keep this family fed? Did he have an inkling of what he was implying? His mind burned with these and several more questions. He was only broken out of it when he heard a strange sound that took him a little while to recognize.

Whimpering.

His son's whimpering.

The man took a closer look at his son's face, and he noticed the tears that had started to form in his eyes. A tiny one trickled down one side, stopping about half way.

Rudy opened his mouth and there was a noticeable tremble in it. He gave a small squeak, "D-Dad..."

It was at this that Mr. Tabootie realized what he had done. His eyes immediately widened as his anger washed away like a runny faucet, replaced with shock and horror. He couldn't help but take in a quick intake of breath as he stared down on Rudy, watching as the frightened boy shivered.

Oh no... What... what had he done...? He had never struck Rudy before. He could still feel the sting on his palm from when he hit him. He stared at it for a few moments before turning his attention back to Rudy. His mouth hung open as his breathing quicked for a few moments. He.. he hadn't meant to do that. He hadn't meant to go that far. He...

"Rudy, I..." His voice trailed off. He took a step forward and reached out with his hand. His heart stung when he saw Rudy cowering before him. "Rudy, please... I-It's all right... Shhh..."

His words did not do much to calm down the scared and shocked little boy. Rudy let out a whine when he got closer, cringing away from him as if he thought he was going to strike him again. Mr. Tabootie tried to reach out and touch his son to console him, but that resulted in Rudy baring his teeth out of fear. Any attempts to get closer only seemed to result in Rudy whimpering louder, his eyes glistening more.

Before he could do anything, Rudy immediately ran away from him. Startled, Mr. Tabootie tried to catch him. He missed entirely and the small boy managed to slip away from him and out the door. He could hear the pitter patter of the boy heading down the steps, but everything else after that faded away into nothingness as shock took him over.

He stared long and hard at the door where Rudy had run out of. He couldn't tear his eyes away from it, his breathing becoming shakier and shakier as his mind constantly replayed his horrible actions. He couldn't believe he had actually done that. How...how could he have let himself lose control like that...?

Mr. Tabootie found his legs growing weak. He collapsed to the ground on his knees, leaning his body against the window sill. He kept his head down, his face pointed at the ground. His mind raced with many thoughts. He could barely shut his eyes for any length of time without seeing that boy's face floating there in the blackness of his closed eyes. Oh Rudy... He looked at his hand once more and he thought one more thing before he let out tears of his own.

What had he done...?

sss

Thoughtless remained roosted on the branch that one of the Beanie Boys had provided for it upon its request. Skrawl didn't really know why he wanted it, but he permitted it anyway and had sent the Beanie Boy off to find it with a wave of his hand. This was a fine branch. Thick and strong. Good for thinking.

Thoughtless watched as Skrawl and Snap were walking away towards...well it wasn't sure where. But it did know that they were talking about Rudy and Penny, and likely other things they could do in the meantime. Judging from Snap's gesturing, it was likely that the small blue zoner was coming up with some stuff that they could do.

Thoughtless didn't do anything to contribute to that part of the conversation. It allowed them to speak on their own and make their own decisions. It didn't really care at the moment. It had other things it wanted to think about that don't concern them. Besides, it didn't really care if it missed out on the conversation. If it really needed to, it could just alter their memories to suit what he needed. Such a thing would be quite easy.

For now, it kept its attention elsewhere.

It wondered how long it could keep Skrawl entertained with that mission to find those swords it had mentioned earlier. Skrawl hadn't yet sent out any Beanie Boys to find them. Or if he did, it was unaware of the act. Skrawl seemed a little too distracted by Snap's joining of them to really pay attention. Not that it cared; it could wait for him to start. It just hoped that Skrawl was able to remember the plan and not get too caught up in Snap's storytelling of Rudy and Penny. Although admittingly, that information might be useful later on.

It did have some growing irritance towards Skrawl and his minions. Sometimes they were quite the nuisance. Especially the Beanie Boys' constant cries of 'we're the boys that Skrawl employs' and Skrawl's arrogance. The only reason it put up with it is because, well, they were a source of entertainment most of the time. Besides, they could prove to be very useful to it. For now, they were providing excellent cover. It was not interested in getting locked up again, and with them, it was safe.

It would stay with them for as long as it deeped fit. It did not yet know when it was going to leave, or if it would for that matter. Just where would it go anyway without Skrawl? It had gotten caught when it was out on its own, all alone. It had its doubts that Skrawl would try to save it a second time. He might dismiss it as a worthless cause. Something it was certain that many attributed to the misshapen jellybean himself.

It tightened its grip on the branch, preventing itself from falling over. Its gleaming brown eyes stared intently at Skrawl and Snap, watching as they continued their discussion. It pulled its head back, bending it in an 'S' shape, pressing its chin against the front of its neck in a bird-like manner. Well it was part bird, wasn't it? It closed its eyes part way, allowing its nictating membrane to cover over its eyes. Its black pupils still managed to shine through even with the flap of skin covering its visual orbs.

A small nap would do it some good. It had performed its task with Biclops, and it even did an extra one with Snap. Such intensive rewriting of memories was difficult, more so than it ever let on with Skrawl. It needed a bit of time to relax and recover from that. After a rest, it could resume helping Skrawl with this plan of his.

Before it could begin to fall asleep, it turned its mind to those two children. Rudy and Penny. When it had peered into Snap's memory, as well as Biclops's, for the rewriting, it had seen countless memories featuring those two. They seemed like nice children. A trait that it felt at first would make them easy targets, but it did see enough in those memories that those two were quite formidable themselves. It wondered if it should attempt its powers on one of them. Perhaps even try Snap's advice and influence their weaknesses, or even do something to turn them against one another.

Provided its powers even work on them of course. It was certain that its powers would be useless against them. But there was no harm in trying, was there? It would give it a shot later, if the two prove to be persistent. A trait that, after what it had seen, it knew those two had.

It opened its eyes all the way and took one more look at Skrawl and Snap. It narrowed its eyes slightly as it watched them, its mind now going numb and emptying of all thought. It simply stared at them intently, its pupils following them, especially Skrawl. It then turned its head away and shut its eyes. Now was time for its rest.


	10. Plea With Insanity

Rudy kept on running. He didn't know where he was going, or how long he had been doing this. He hardly remembered bursting through the doors. He hardly remembered the faint words of his mother when she tried to stop him. All he could think about was propelling himself forward, his eyes focused only on what was in front of him.

He became aware of blurs of green and grey as he ran along the sidewalk. He was vaguely aware of dodging around the neighborhood kids, ignoring their cries of confusion. He continued down the street, not bothering to make a turn, not even when there was a chance to. He ran out into the streets, crossing them, without looking both ways. He heard a loud beeping sound as he ran in front of a car, which barely stopped in time for him. Yet this did little to slow him down.

He soon to a stop at long last. Up ahead of him stood a large tree. It grew pretty close to the sidewalk, nearly tearing into it. He slammed himself against it. The loud thud radiated through his body, although this wasn't enough to subside the emotional pain that wracked through his head. Pressing himself against the tree, he found his body sliding down, trembling in fear and shock and pain. He was not able to stop the tears from flowing.

He couldn't believe that his own father had struck him like that. He knew he was angry at him. He understood why. But...but how could he do this to his own son? How could he smack him like that?

Maybe he was overreacting like this. Maybe he was being childish. Maybe he should take this in stride and go back. Maybe running off like this was a stupid idea. He had done this before and he had worried his mother to death, who had ended up calling all the neighbors to find him. After the scare with disappearing today, he didn't want to subject her to that. And as much as he was angry and fearful towards his dad...he didn't want to wish that upon him either.

But at the moment, his legs felt like jello. He didn't think he'd be able to get back home like this. The emotion whipped through him and prevented him from doing anything. All he could do was lay there and let himself cry. Perhaps..this was for the best. Let out his emotion now so he could better confront his father later. With this resolve, he pressed his cheek against the tree and let himself cry.

He was not aware of the two figures who were coming towards him. He did not see the glints in their eyes. He did not see the shadows moving over him. He was unaware of it until it was already too late.

A loud thud, a tight grasping of his throat, a slam against the hard surface of the tree. This was enough to jolt Rudy out of his current state, new fear washing over him as he opened his eyes and saw the figures standing before him. It was hard to tell as they stood in front of the light, which made them appear much darker, but he recognized who they were.

It was Bobby and Harvey.

"Wh-What are you..." Rudy started to say before Harvey, the one holding his throat, tightened his grasp.

"We want to ask you some questions..." Harvey spoke in a low, hissing voice.

Rudy took in a few breaths as he stared at the two boys in shock. His mind raced rapidly as he tried to make sense of this. Despite neither of the boys looking particularly angry, he could feel his gut twisting in nervousness. How did they manage to find him so fast? And why did they want to talk to him? Did this have anything to do with what happened at the school?

Yes, it had to be that. The thought made him clench his teeth. Had what Reggie said got through to them? Were they merely curious? Did they believe the words that Reggie had spewed out? Whatever the reason, it still resulted in his heart pounding against his chest.

Nonetheless, he still managed to squeak out a question. "What did you want to know?"

Harvey paused for a moment, and turned his head left and right, as if to make sure no one else could see him. Bobby, too, looked around, likely as a way to ensure that they would be alone. Harvey leaned in towards Rudy, his eyes furrowed in curiosity, his head turning to one side. He hissed out, "What was Reggie said true...? About that light...?"

Rudy knew this would be what they'd ask. Despite the anticipation, he still found it difficult to answer him properly. All he could do was choke out one word. "I..." Then it devolved into stammering and gibberish.

Bobby narrowed his eyes at this. "So you do know..."

"Tell us what you know." Harvey said, his voice a little firm.

"I...already told you guys what we knew." Rudy told them. He grabbed onto Harvey's hand and started to push back. "Now please let me go. I need to go back home now. I..."

Harvey tightened his grip. Bobby helped him by grabbing onto one of Rudy's arms and pressing it firmly against the bark. This made it even harder for Rudy to push back against them. Bobby looked up at him and said, "Don't make this harder on yourself. We just want to know what the big deal of this place is. We can all return to our business quicker if you just cooperate."

Rudy gritted his teeth as he stared at the two boys. He realized in that moment he was not going to be able to get them to listen to him and make them release him. They looked determined to find out more about what he and Penny were doing. It was clear that they were no longer convinced that they did nothing. They appeared to have no intentions on letting him go unless he told them what they wanted.

But how was he going to be able to do that without jeoparding ChalkZone? It was already in enough danger as it was with that memotrice running around. If he told these kids about it, all he would be doing was introducing even more threats to it. Something else for the zoners to worry about. Considering Biclops's recent corruption, this would only add to the memotrice's attempts, making things even harder for him and Penny.

But he wouldn't be able to do anything unless he figured out a way out of here. What could he tell these two that would satisfy them? How could he make them let go of him and let him be on his way? He didn't know what the answer was going to be. But he'd have to think of something fast. Otherwise, he was trapped.

sss

"I do hope you feel proud of yourself, young lady." Mrs. Sanchez hissed softly as she picked up the chalkboard. "I am very disappointed in you."

Penny flinched at this and lowered her head. She was silent for a few moments. Then she said, "I know. I'm sorry, mother."

Mrs. Sanchez softened up her expression. She looked down at her daughter sadly. She did come to realize that she and Rudy didn't mean to worry them or cause trouble. That didn't make what they did right. But at least they seemed to understand what they did was wrong. That reduced the chances of them repeating this incident.

Still, they needed to be punished. She didn't know what Rudy's parents would do with him. She trusted that they would figure out a fair enough punishment. She imagined it would be similar to what she was doing with Penny. Taking away the chalkboard. Their children both loved their chalkboards and they used it often. It seemed like the perfect thing to go after in order to teach a valuable lesson. Penny was clearly upset by it, but she did not try to protest and had, even if reluctantly, accepted it.

If that is what Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie did with Rudy, she wondered if he would react the same way, or in a more negative manner. Based on what she had known about the boy, he might take it immaturely at first, but learn to swallow it later on. She remembered his behavior at the Christmas party they had a couple months ago. She had arrived late, but they did tell her some of the things that happened, including Rudy's bratty behavior initially and how he warmed up later on. Yeah, that's probably what happened.

She turned her attention back to Penny. Her daughter still hung her head low, her eyes likely shut. Mrs. Sanchez bit her lip. She set the chalkboard down and she moved towards the little girl. She lowered herself down, pressing a knee against the ground. She reached over and she placed a hand against her shoulder. This prompted Penny to look up at her. For a few moments, they just stared at each other, neither saying a word.

Soon Mrs. Sanchez reached out with her other hand and gripped her other shoulder. "Penita..." She gently pulled her closer to her, staring at her in the eyes. "You do know I love you, right?"

Penny nodded her head slowly. "Yes, mama."

"And you know I'm just doing this because I love you..." Mrs. Sanchez moved her head closer to Penny. She pressed her forehead against her. "Am I right?"

"Yes. I understand." Penny said softly. She bent her head down even lower. She then leaned in forward, pressing her head against her mother's chest. "I love you too, mama."

Mrs. Sanchez felt warmth spread through her chest. She wrapped her arms around her daughter and pulled her close. In that moment, the anger she felt towards her actions faded away, and now she could only feel gratefulness that her daughter was still around. She held this posture for several moments before she pulled away and continued smiling down at her daughter.

Before any of them could say another word, she felt a rumbling in her pants. She straightened herself up and pulled out her phone. She noticed that it was the Tabooties. She immediately flipped the phone open and she spoke into it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, is Rudy there?" It was Mrs. Tabootie.

At this, Mrs. Sanchez immediately frowned. She looked down at her daughter, who stared up at her in confusion, wondering what was happening. Mrs. Sanchez kept silent for a few seconds, wondering why Mrs. Tabootie was calling her about Rudy. "N-No..." She finally answered. "Why?"

"Because he's...he's not home..."

At this, Mrs. Sanchez felt her gut twist in a knot. Her eyes widened and it was hard for her to hide her look of shock from Penny. She could hear her daughter asking her what was going on. She could feel her tug at her arm, try to listen in. Mrs. Sanchez had to hold out her arm and push her away just so she could continue the conversation with Mrs. Tabootie.

Her mind reeled at this information. What a terrible thing to happen right after they got their child back. What had happened when they got home? What ahd transpired that resulted in Rudy not being there? She tried to keep herself calm and reasonable. Maybe he just went outside to play or something and... No, he wouldn't do that. Not after he had scared his parents like that. They wouldn't let him out of their sight. So what...

"His father hit him." Mrs. Tabootie's voice was slightly bitter at this. Mrs. Sanchez gasped, placing a hand against her mouth. "He didn't mean to, but..." An exasperated sigh. A low growl. "..it still caused Rudy to take off. I thought he would have headed down to your place to see Penny."

Mrs. Sanchez was tempted to ask what caused Mr. Tabootie to snap at his son like that. After all, he had never done anything like that. At least not during the time she and Penny had moved in here. But she resisted the urge to ask; that wasn't really important right now. Wanting to move things along, she asked, "How long ago was this?"

A pause. "I'd say about half an hour ago. I know that's not long, but my little boy just rushed out, not looking, not stopping... He had done this before..."

Mrs. Sanchez blinked. "He did?"

If she could see her, she was certain she would have seen the large woman nodding her head. "When he got upset when his father and I weren't taking him with us on our honeymoon. He got upset and left and he didn't come home for hours. I was so worried about him..." A small sniffle. "I just..hope he's okay."

Mrs. Sanchez couldn't believe she had forgotten about that incident. She had been among the first people called. Not wanting to dwell on past events, she tried to think of a solution. She hadn't seen Rudy, but perhaps she could make an offer that would help her friend feel better. "I can go out and look for him. Maybe he's almost here?"

"Could you do that?" Mrs. Tabootie asked, sounding hopeful. "Please...I would appreciate it."

"Will do." Mrs. Sanchez was about to say goodbye, but she needed to do one more thing. "Did you call the police?"

"I will do that now. Thanks." Mrs. Tabootie said. "...goodbye."

Although reluctant, Mrs. Sanchez brought herself to hang up. She stared at her cellphone in silence for a few moments, her rushing mind trying to make sense of the whole thing. She had been hoping that it was all over and they could begin to recover. But it seemed that fate had other ideas. She bit her lip. She hoped that Rudy didn't do anything too extreme, like run into town by himself or anything.

If he wasn't heading here, then where else could he go? He didn't really hang out with many other children aside from Penny. On occasion, yeah, but mostly Penny. So it did make sense that he'd come here. But if he didn't, then they'd have to look elsewhere. But where else could he go?

She looked down at Penny. She could see that she was still staring at her, eagerly waiting to know what happened, her eyes wide in confusion and uncertainty. She might know where else Rudy could have gone. Surely Rudy would have confided in her the places he'd like to be. Maybe she'd even know his secret hideout he disappeared to for hours during the day. That must be where Rudy had gone to, especially if he was too angry and upset to see his parents for a while. She had no idea if Penny knew or not, but...there was only one way to find out.

"Penny..." She said in a gentle voice. "Do you know where Rudy goes to when he's upset?"

Penny's eyes widened at this. "Why...? What happened?"

Mrs. Sanchez bit her lip. She hesitated for a moment. She soon brought herself to speak. "Rudy...ran off."

Penny gasped at this. "What...?" She took a few steps back. "Wh-Why would he do that...?"

"His father got mad at him and hit him." Mrs. Sanchez made to attempt to hide that bit of information. "He's sorry about it, but I guess he couldn't apologize in time and Rudy just ran off." She closed her eyes and her voice took a solemn tone. "His mother was hoping that he was here."

Penny stared at her mother in shock. She lowered her head. "Oh Rudy..."

Mrs. Sanchez gripped her daughter's shoulders gently. She stared at her in the eyes, locking onto them. She paused for a couple of moments before she attempted to speak. "If you know anything... Any place he might have gone... Please, tell me."

Penny stared at her in silence, her eyes wide, her mouth open. They remained this way for a while, just looking at one another. Penny looked uncertain, unsure of how to answer. She looked left and right, clenching her teeth tightly. It looked almost as though she was debating internally of what to say. As if she was going to betray her best friend if she said too much. Mrs. Sanchez kept silent and waited for her daughter to speak.

Mrs. Sanchez hoped that her daughter would choose to do the right thing. Even if Rudy made her promise not to tell, sometimes secrets had to be exposed. Especially during times like this, when trouble as at hand. Rudy might have gotten himself into more danger. The sooner they find him, the better. His safety was more important than some secret.

And she knew Penny was aware of that as well. Penny would not keep a secret if keeping that secret potentially meant more harm being placed against her and those she cared about.

It took Penny a long while to answer, but at last she spoke. "Let's just go find Rudy..."

Mrs. Sanchez widened her eyes at this. She felt a small pang of disappointment. She looked down at her daughter, watching as she wriggled herself free and began to head towards the door. "Penita... you didn't answer my question."

Penny looked over at her. She looked a little regretful, sucking on her lip. But she did not look like she was going to answer her question any time soon. "Let's skip the questions and find Rudy. That's what's important right now."

Mrs. Sanchez couldn't argue with that. It was true that they were going to waste time if they continued to stand here and talk. But the question she was asking her daughter wasn't one such waste. It was a crucial piece of evidence that would help them find Rudy. Just rushing out there wasn't going to solve anything and might make things worse. They needed a plan. A location to go in. An idea of where to look.

But she didn't want to waste time trying to convince Penny to tell her. Right now, finding Rudy was of the utmost importance. She decided not to argue with Penny and simply nodded her head. She followed her daughter close behind as they headed down the stairs.

sss

There it was. Up ahead. His target. He kept his eyes focused on it, not daring to look away. Although it looked small and insignificant, he knew there was much more to it than met the eye. Only the untrained would see it as worthless. But he...he could see a lot more than just a simple piece of chalk held between that space.

He saw opportunity.

Beside him, he was not alone. He looked left and right, noting the other participants. He watched as their large butts hung highly in the air, their goofy faces narrowed in determination, an act that was hard to take seriously with those beady eyes and strange, unusual smiles. They, too, were eyeing this object, all looking equally determined to grab a hold of it. He tried his best to ignore them as he turned to stare at the piece of chalk, his own eyes narrowing into slits. He hunched his back and prepared to run.

He could hear the loud bang. He immediately bolted forward. The others around him also took off, using the air to their advantage. It took only seconds for them to gain ahead of him. He watched as they zipped down towards the chalk, their puffy arms moved foward so they could grab the item. He narrowed his eyes at this. No way he was going to lose to them.

He pushed himself to go faster. He pounded his feet against the ground. He could feel his chest setting on fire, jaws open and panting. He flinched as he hit his foot against something. One of the others that didn't get off the ground. He managed to ignore the hapin as he moved himself as quickly as he could, his eyes focusing on the target straight ahead. But no matter how hard he pumped his arms, no matter how fast he launched his feet from the ground, into the air, and back again, he knew he was not going to be able to keep up with them, let alone get ahead of them to get to the chalk.

He needed a plan. He needed to think his way out of this. As he kept running, he scanned the land for anything he could use. Something, anything at all. He soon saw what appeared to be a long, bent log that went upwards, to a cliff overhead. That's it. It was risky, but he knew what he could do.

He headed towards that way, veering off from the others. The competitors didn't really seem to notice his change of direction, let alone question it. They were more focused on the task at hand, zipping in a straight line to get to the chalk. He used this to his advantage as he began to climb up the log.

It was slippery and kind of wet. But it also had plenty of grooves and hooks and branches and stubs sticking out to act as footholds. He gripped onto the log tightly and shimmied his way up. He pressed his feet against the holds, keeping himself from falling down. He slipped a few times, and he winced as the wood scraped against his underside. But he managed to prevent himself from falling down and he continued on his way up. After a few moments he managed to reach the top and now he was on the cliff.

He immediately rushed over towards the edge and he looked down. He could see his flying competitors not far. They were just about completely passed underneath. They were gaining speed, getting ever closer to the target. He narrowed his eyes further, still determined to get there first. And he knew of one way to do it. A tricky, almost suicidal way. But if he timed it right, it should work. He tightened his leg muscles, looked down, and waited for the right moment. And when it came, he launched himself.

Down he fell, feeling the rush of air all around him. He tried his best not to let fear get a hold of him. He pushed that aside the best he could, his eyes focusing on his intended target below. He stretched his arms outward at his sides, clenching his teeth in determination. Soon he landed on the back of one of his competitors, the impact causing the competitor to weaken and lower towards the ground.

"Hey!"

He ignored the call as he grabbed onto the competitor's ears. He held onto them tightly and then yanked them back. The competitor let out a screech and pulled his head back, trying to grab onto him. His arms could not reach him, no matter how hard he tried. He took full advantage of this, then, holding on even tighter, he pushed forward.

This act caused the competitor to dive downwards. The increased pain in the ears made him move even faster, a vain attempt to get away. He slammed against the others in the process, dodging left and right, his eyes sometimes shut, sometimes widened. The passenger did not relent; he continued squeezing and twisting the ears roughly, forcing the competitor to scream and try to move faster to get away. He could practically hear his heart pounding despite riding on his back.

Soon they were gaining towards the front. He narrowed his eyes in determination. Just a little longer and they would be able to get past the others. He leaned himself forward, pressing his stomach and chest against the back of the competitor's head. He ignored the pain of the hard cap tip against his belly as he struggled to get a good look at the situation ahead of him. He looked out at the landscape, turning his head from side to side. The back of his mind rapidly calculated the distance of the two, and he soon leaned towards the one on the right, which was closer.

Another hard yank, another yelp of pain, and the flying competitor charged even faster, still trying so hard to get away. He didn't know if he even cared of the target at this point. But it didn't matter. So long as he kept heading in this direction, it would work out in the end.

He waited until they got closer, and he soon released his grip on his ears. He stood up on his back, stretching out his hands and arms to keep himself from falling down. He wobbled slightly, but before the competitor could regain his senses and try to knock him off, he leapt off of him and landed on the one in front.

"Ouch!" Cried this new competitor. "Get off!"

He did just that. But not right away. He first grabbed onto one ear and yanked it, prompting him to fly to the side in an attempt to alleviate the pain spreading through half of his face. This act allowed the passenger to get close enough to the other competitor. He paused and looked over and saw that they were getting ever closer to the object at hand. He had to act quickly.

Off he went, just in time to feel a rush of something behind him. He realized that the competitor had tried to grab onto his leg. He tried to brush off how lucky he was and focus on the task at hand. He glared out ahead at his target, spreading out his arms. The target looked up at him and widened his eyes. But it was too late to react. He collided with him and the two spun in the air for a few seconds before some ear pulling prompted the flyer to keep moving forward quickly.

They were so close now. The passenger didn't need to stay on for very long. A good thing, too. The one he was standing on looked ready to tear into him. He knew jumping off was going to be tricky, so he would have to do it fast. He waited until they were practically on top of the chalk. He waited until they were close enough he could reach it by a mere leap. Only then did he made his move.

He placed his hands over the competitor's eyes, temporarily blinding him. The head jerked from side to side. But it wasn't enough to knock him off. Steadying himself, he leapt into the air, kicking his feet off against him. The forced caused the flying competitor to be knocked back, letting out a grunt. The former passenger was now flying down towards the piece of chalk. Or rather, falling towards it. He did not pay attention to the fast growing ground nor did he worry about how much it was going to hurt when he impacted. Right now, all he cared about was getting that chalk.

But just getting there didn't mean that it was over just yet. There was still a little more.

He had landed right in front of the contraption he spotted before. Tall, human-like in shape, holding the piece of chalk tightly. The eyes glowed green. A normally comforting color, but here it made him clench his teeth in fear and anger. The contraption raised the chalk up as if to strike, but instead a small glow eminated from a small cannon-like stucture underneath its wrist.

It was quite easy to dodge the attack at first. The blast came in slowly, without much pressure, and it didn't seem like it could move well. But then suddenly it spun itself around and struck him harder. He let out a cry as he was tossed back. He didn't allow this to deter him for long. He got up to his feet, determined to keep himself moving forward. He dashed back at the contraption, this time, running around it to avoid getting struck by the blast of energy.

For the next several moments, he used his speed and agility to his advantage, keeping himself balanced with his arms stretched out. He danced around the contraption, his eyes glued to the item. If he didn't act soon, one of the others was going to take it. He couldn't allow for that to happen. He gritted his teeth, nearly biting his tongue in the process. He watched as the contraption raised up its free arm and struck out at him. He dodged, whipping himself around to behind it, and then he struck out with a foot, banging it against one of the metal poles that worked as its leg. He managed to dislodge it.

With the contraption falling forward, he took advantage of this. He grabbed onto the limb that held the chalk. He got a hold of it and he wrenched it free. He then jumped back. Before the contraption could turn around to get him, or even to take another shot, he raised his foot up and he kicked forward. The force of the impact was enough to break the leg further, causing the contraption to fall forward, the break sparking a little.

With the chalk in hand, he rushed forward and stepped into a circular pattern on the ground, its edges glowing brightly. He stood there firmly, holding up the chalk as proof of what he had accomplished. The other competitors stared at him in shock, not one of them speaking a word. Not even a congratulations.

But he didn't care. For now, this was his moment. He had accomplished this. He was going to enjoy this few seconds.

Before he knew it, the circle around him shined more brightly as something from above was pointed down at him. Everything else darkened up, making it look almost like night time. He looked left and right as he watched the light fading away from everywhere except the spot that he stood on. It soon became as though he was in the spotlight on a show.

"Well well well... Congratulations, Snap." A voice boomed through. "I didn't know you could do it."

At this, everything around began to fade away, melting like it were being held near something really hot. This revealed the true landscape, the virtual room owned by Skrawl. Snap watched in curiosity as the room, which was smaller than it had appeared to be before with the hologram on, lit up.

High above him, he could see Skrawl standing there, positioned in front of the controls. He was smiling down at him in approval, his claw raised above the controls, likely there from when he had shut off the simulated environment. Even the contraption from before was gone; only the piece of chalk remained with him as proof of his accomplishment. Snap did not say a word and he merely bowed in Skrawl's direction.

"Yes...You will do just fine." Skrawl said with a smile. "You really are quite talented. Thoughtless was right to have recruited you. This might be just the first test, but you still managed to beat my Beanie Boys on your first try. You are quite a clever little zoner, aren't you?"

Snap turned his head to stare at the Beanie Boys. A couple of them, the ones he had ridden, were rubbing their heads. They glared at him softly, clearly annoyed by what he did. None of them appeared happy that he had shown them up. He responded to this with a smile, raising his head up in a haughty manner. He folded his arms against his chest, his hand still holding onto the piece of chalk. He smirkd smugly at the Beanie Boys before he looked up at Skrawl.

"Why thank you." Snap said, puffing up his chest in pride. "I told you I could handle it."

Skrawl nodded his head. "That you did." His smile spread wider. "Congratulations."

Snap felt a warm swell in his chest as he heard his savior and new partner say that. It made him feel even more proud of what he had accomplished. He knew that if he kept this up, he would be the favorite among his ranks. He would outrank all those stupid Beanie Boys. He was a better fit to be Skrawl's parter than any of them. He would prove it too. He'd prove it by helping Skrawl take down the ones that had been a thorn in his side for so long.

Rudy and Penny.

The thought of them made his gut burn and twist, making him feel sick. The contraption he had faced before was a sort of model of Rudy. It was way too imperfect and did not account for everything. But after some adjustments due to his advice, it would soon be a perfect replica. It would be used by him, and by the others of course, to prepare for a physical fight with Rudy if it came to that. There was no telling how the fight might go. Best be prepared.

Not only that, but it would serve as a good outlet. He had buried that horrible memory inside of him for too long. Okay so it wasn't as long as it could have been. But he had allowed the feelings to accumulate overtime. He could feel his body shake with adrenaline. He could feel eagerness to sweep through him. He wanted to get back at those two for betraying him. He wanted to lunge on Rudy's back and tear off his face. He wanted to beat him to a pulp. He wanted to make him cry and plead for mercy.

But such a time wouldn't come soon. He had no idea when the boy would dare try to sneak back into ChalkZone. So he would need an alternative. He could not use the Beanie Boys for it. Not unless he wanted to get on Skrawl's bad side, which he did not want to do, nor did he dare want to use that memotrice. However, that contraption that was used for the simulation... That had worked out just fine.

He could remember how good it felt to strike it. To slam himself against it, his foot, watching as it toppled down... It felt so gratifying. It might have been metal instead of flesh, but it did well enough. He could easily picture Rudy's face. So scared and horrified... Snap smirked at the thought. He couldn't wait for the real deal.

Sooner or later, he would make them pay for what they did. They had hurt him badly. He would get back at them. He would shed their blood. He would make them scream and plead and beg for mercy. He knew exactly how he was going to deal with them when it was time for him to make his move.

But for now, he continued his training.

sss

"Look, I'd love to tell you more, but there really isn't anything else to say." Rudy said as he stared at the two boys before him. "I know you must think something was going on, but really, it was nothing that big. Reggie was overreacting."

The two boys glared at him softly. Neither of them looked entirely convinced. Their expressions alone were enough to tell him that they intended on remaining here until he told them what they wanted.

Rudy couldn't help but sigh at this. He didn't know what else he could say to make these two listen to him. He wasn't worried about getting beaten up by them a second time. They were reluctant to do anything serious, and he doubted they would even try after what happened earlier. However, they were still getting in his way and they refused to move. He needed to get back home before his parents call the police again.

Which, in hindsight, they might have already done. He felt more guilt twisting up inside of him. He should have known better than to just run off like that. He immediately regretted doing so. He never wanted to worry his parents even further. But before he could even get back, he needed to figure out a way to get away from these two.

"Come on, Harvey... Bobby... You know me better than this. Why would I hide anything?" Rudy asked them, giving a soft smile.

Bobby shrugged his shoulders. "We aren't sure. Why do you think we're asking?"

"I know you and Reggie are well acquainted. But he 'hangs out' with us more than you." Harvey narrowed his eyes slightly. "We know him better than you. We know what he gets paranoid over and what he doesn't. For him to be so convinced of this... There has to be a reason." Harvey leaned in closer. "We know you are hiding something. It is better that you just tell us. We don't want to keep you here all day."

"Then just let me go." Rudy said, raising his hand up in gesture. "You will gain nothing by keeping me here. I have nothing more I can tell you."

Harvey shook his head. "You really are stubborn." He paused for a moment, and tilted his head slightly to one side. "Then again, so are we."

Bobby nodded his head in affirmation. "How do you think we can handle being around Reggie all the time?" He folded his arms against himself. "It requires a certain...personality type to handle him."

Rudy growled softly at this. He certainly wouldn't deny that fact, but it was going to make things tougher for him. If they were as stubborn as they claimed they were, then no lie he could drum up was going to make them let go. They would see right through his attempts and keep holding onto him until he relented the information. He could simply wait for an adult to come by to make them let go. But this would only last a short time. They would simply come back for him at a later date.

What he needed was to tell them something that would satisfy them enough to let him go. If he satisfied what they wanted now, they wouldn't come back for him another time. They'd leave him alone. But how would he figure out an answer that would please them? What could he say to make them let him go?

Or, perhaps, there was another option. There were times when honestly was not the best policy. Sometimes lies needed to be spoken in order to protect something or somebody. This was something that he and Penny needed to do for ChalkZone. But perhaps this time around, he could go for something completely different. Something that he never tried before. Something that was incredibly dangerous and risky, but may just be good enough to keep these two from actually finding out about ChalkZone.

He told the truth.

Rudy sighed and lifted up his head. He gave them the most dead serious look he could muster. "Okay, if you really want to know, the light that Reggie saw was a portal into another world. This world is made of chalk and all sorts of drawings live in there. Anything erased ends up here. They are called zoners."

Bobby and Harvey stared at him with wide eyes. They remained in shocked silence as Rudy continued speaking.

"There are all kinds of zoners in that world and all kinds of creations. A talking jellybean bent on world domination. Areas that are always day or night. Many suns and moons. Plants that die in contact with the light. Zoners that can take off their heads. Zoners that can show you television in their eyes. A large runny nose for an attraction. Walking smiley faces." Rudy gave a small chuckle at this. "And that doesn't even scratch the surface."

The two boys frowned slightly at him in confusion. They glanced at one another, many questions running through their heads. They looked back at Rudy, looking at him up and down, looking for any sign of him lying. Rudy continued to stare at them with a serious expression.

Bobby breathed out, "You're kidding, right...?"

Rudy shook his head. "Nope! One time..." He motioned with his hand. "I met this huge chinese dragon that needed wings, so I drew large butterfly wings on him. He was so happy he stopped destroying the city and flew off."

At this, silence fell upon the area. The two boys stared at him, blinking a few times. Rudy looked back at them in silence, doing nothing to indicate he was joking. Not even a smile graced upon his face. He believed he had spoken enough. Now all he had to do was wait and see how they would react.

Bobby and Harvey had never looked so confused before in however long he had known them. He had never seen them make these sorts of faces before. Their expressions were like a cross between perplexion and almost horror. As if they never thought he would say something like this to them. Neither did Rudy. He just hoped that this risk taking was going to pay off. He knew the horrible consequences if he ended up making a huge mistake here.

At long last, after what felt like many minutes, Bobby and Harvey did something other than stare at him. Bobby took a few steps back, raising his hands up as if he thought Rudy was something dangerous. Harvey's own grip loosened up, his eyes widening for a few seconds before they returned to that confused frown. His lip curled back into a partial snarl and he shook his head slowly.

"I never thought you would be a loonatic, Rudy." Harvey said softly. He let go of the boy and took a few steps back. "I'm not sure if I'm that curious anymore about what you were really doing."

Bobby leaned in towards Harvey and spoke sideways, "Anyone who can say those things with a straight face has something seriously wrong with them."

Rudy did not say a word to that, despite how it stung him. He had enough problems with bullies; he didn't need to worry about a whole new reason for him to get targeted. But he kept the straight face, remaining silent. He didn't want to do anything that would lead Harvey or Bobby to think that he was hiding something. If he did so much as chuckle, that might give them reason to think that he was lying, and they might keep him here long for further interrogation. So he remained there in silence and waited.

"Yeah, uh... I think we're just...going to go..." Harvey managed to say, pointing down to one of the streets. "We...we are late for an appointment anyway."

Bobby looked up at him in confusion. "We are?" Harvey elbowed him. "Ow! Er, I mean...yes..." He raised a pointer finger up and smiled. "We are so, so late.. We're sorry we have to cut this short."

The two boys began to back away slowly from Rudy. He simply watched as they stared to leave him. He did not try to run. He instead gave them a fake perplexed look and he motioned with his hand for them to come back. This prompted the boys to shake their hands and move their hands from side to side.

"You can just...go back to what you were doing." Bobby told him. "We will see you later."

Harvey nodded. "Yeah.. So have fun with that..chalk world thing you spoke to us about.."

"Yeah." Bobby agreed. "Don't let us stop you!"

"Are you sure?" Rudy called out, placing his hands out forward, at his sides. "I could show you guys if you want to!"

"Uh, no thanks!" Harvey called out. Bobby grinned nervously, his head looking over as if looking for an escape route. "You can...do that on your own, yes. Don't worry about us! We're just..." He turned his head and looked at Bobby. "Lets get out of here before he tries to invite us to a whiteboard world as well...!"

Rudy watched as the two boys turned around and immediately sprinted away. They looked back at him and he waved, prompting them to move faster. Harvey and Bobby didn't bother looking back another time and focused all their energy on just running and getting away from him. It was only after they disappeared completely that Rudy smirked.

This worked out better than he had expected. They both thought he was so crazy and luny that they had lost all interest in that light Reggie had seen. They must think that he and Penny were doing something quite crazy. And many people preferred to leave the crazy ones alone. Rather than try to prompt him to tell more, they just wrote him off as nuts and ran. This might all come back to bite him later. Unexpected consequences and all. But for now, at least he was free. He will worry about problems later.

Besides, if they were that sure that he was crazy, then it wasn't like they were going to actually search for evidence of it being true, right?

Of course, he would need to make sure that he didn't do something this crazy again. This tactic would not work on everyone. It only worked on Harvey and Bobby because they already thought he was nuts. If he tried this with someone like, say, Terry or Vinnie, they would take him more seriously and he may end up making things worse for ChalkZone. At least here, only Harvey and Bobby heard it. He shuddered to think what might happen if one of those two creepazoids heard his little speech.

He shrugged it off. Perhaps now was a good time to start heading home. His parents would be worried sick about him. He was still hurt by what his dad had done, but his frustration and near-scare with Harvey and Bobby and ChalkZone made him forget about that. Besides, he knew his dad would never hurt him on purpose. He probably felt horrible right now. He needed to help fix this before their relationship got any worse.

He didn't get too far when he heard someone shouting for him. He raised his head up and looked left and right, trying to find the source of it. He turned his head to the street he had just run down on, and he could see a couple figures in the distance. They weren't Harvey or Bobby. They looked like...

"Penny? Mrs. Sanchez?" Rudy called out as he took a few steps forward. He watched as the two females approached him quickly. "What are you...?"

He didn't get a chance to finish when Penny, despite her injuries, ran close to him and wrapped her arms around him. Rudy grunted in pain as his injuries were slightly irritated. It was a wonder Harvey and Bobby didn't do this earlier.

"Penny...?" Rudy managed to say in his state of shock.

"Oh Rudy... I'm just so glad you're okay!" Penny told him as she held him close. "We...we found out what happened and..."

Rudy's eyes widened. "You did..?"

"Yes." Rudy looked up at Mrs. Sanchez as the woman walked towards him. "Your mother called and told us. They even called the police to try to find you." Rudy lowered his head in guilt at this. Mrs. Sanchez placed herself onto one knee and grabbed his shoulder gently. "Come on. Let's get you home. Your parents are so worried about you."

Rudy nodded his head, not bothering to reply. Penny released him, much to his relief. They began to head down the sidewalk. Mrs. Sanchez stood behind them while Penny walked alongside Rudy. She continued to stare at him in sympathy as they walked. Rudy hung his head, feeling guilt wash over him.

He hoped that his parents were okay. He hoped that they would be able to forgive him for scaring them like that for what must have been the third time in a row. He got beat up and he got in trouble with the school, and now he ran off. What kind of son was he? What kind of immature brat was he becoming? He needed to fix this. He needed to reassure his parents that nothing like this was going to happen again. And as soon as he got home, he would fulfill that promise.

sss

"I'm so sorry, mom...dad...I-I didn't mean to..." Rudy whispered softly as he pressed himself further into his mother's arms. "I didn't mean to scare you..."

"Oh Rudy, it's all right." His mom said gently. Her hand moved up and down his back in an attempt to comfort him. "Shh...it's all okay now..."

Mr. Tabootie watched in silence as his son and wife hugged each other. He hadn't said anything to Rudy yet, or even tried to move towards him. All he could do was stare at him sadly, biting his lip. He still felt tremendous guilt for what he had done. He couldn't bring himself to do anything except watch as the scene before him played out.

It was his fault this happened. He was the one who lost his temper. He was the one who hit his own son, despite the fact that he was injured previously. Oh gawd... how could he have lost control of himself like that...? Rudy was already in pain and he... He could only hope that Rudy would forgive him for being an idiot. But he would understand if Rudy couldn't do it. He did really screw up this time after all.

Even if Rudy was somehow not angry at him, there was still his wife. She was not exactly happy with him, and he couldn't blame her. It wasn't like during the whole honeymoon thing. He hadn't actually struck Rudy that time. He left on his own, due to his own anger.

But time, he had hurt Rudy. Not intentionally so, but he still did it. There would be a lot more healing to do than just telling him he was sorry. He never hit him before. This was something none of them had experienced as family. But despite the difficulties, he was still willing to do whatever it took to mend what he had done. He owed it to them, as a father and a husband, to help set things right.

At first, he remained frozen where he was. He still felt unsure about moving forward. A part of him didn't want to mess this up. He didn't want to do something stupid that would cause Rudy to feel worse. He had already hurt him enough. He didn't need anything else added on top of that. But... he couldn't just stand there. His family needed him right now, and he needed them. With that resolve, he took in a deep breath and he moved forward.

He stopped when his wife looked over at him. She gave him a somewhat stern look. He lowered his head and looked away in shame. She was still made at him. Why shouldn't she be? He was the reason their son ran away. He was the one who struck their son while he was already injured. He was the idiot. He had...

He was confused when he saw that his wife was motioning towards him. He looked at her hand, seeing how it indicated for him to come closer. He leveled his gaze with her, looking into her eyes to see if he was just seeing things. The stern look from before was gone, now replaced with a look of sympathy, a small, sad smile spread over her face. Mr. Tabootie stared at this for a few moments, wondering what to do. Then, not wanting to waste this chance, he licked his lips and he moved over towards her and Rudy. Carefully, he wrapped his arms around his wife and son, joining in the embrace.

He wasn't sure how long they stayed like this. He didn't know how much time had passed. But he didn't care. He just held onto his family. He let a few tears of remorse move down his cheeks. He felt his chest sting as he remembered how he had treated Rudy earlier. He clinched his eyes shut tightly, taking in a few shaky breaths.

But here, trapped in the warmth of his wife and son, he did start to feel a little better. He could feel his sadness start to melt away, especially when he felt his son place an arm around him, gripping him as tightly as he could. Mr. Tabootie felt the corner of his mouth curl up into a small smile. This prompted him to hug his wife and son a little more tightly and snugly. They stayed like this for a good long while before they finally broke apart.

Mr. Tabootie looked down at Rudy. The boy met his gaze, and he could see how they were shining. He reached down and touched Rudy on the shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Rudy did cringe slightly as if he thought he was going to hit him again, but the boy quickly relaxed.

"Son... I'm... I'm so sorry... about what I did." Mr. Tabootie said quietly. "I-I didn't mean to do it. I just...lost control and I..." He lowered his head. "Oh Rudy... I'm so sorry."

"I know you are." Rudy said. Mr. Tabootie lifted up his head and looked at the boy. "I admit, I got carried away, too." Rudy shifted his gaze from side to side. "You're not the only one who lost control there. I'm sorry, dad. I didn't mean to scare you." He looked up at him, biting his lip. "I'm sorry, too."

Mr. Tabootie stared at this in surprise. He didn't expect Rudy to apologize. In his mind, he was the only one at fault. He should have been more careful. To hear Rudy apologize as well... It caused a few more tears to stroll down his face. "Rudy... you have nothing to be sorry for. You..."

"I was an idiot!" Rudy snapped. "I shouldn't have run off! I should have just accepted the punishment, but I went on and on and I provoked you and..."

Mr. Tabootie gripped Rudy's other shoulder and gave him a firm shake to snap him out of it. "No, Rudy. It was my fault." He placed a hand against his chest. "I should have controlled myself more. I hit you. I chased you away." He let out a sigh as he leaned in closer to Rudy. He planted a quick kiss on his forehead. "I hope you know that I love you very much. Let's...try to put this behind us, okay?"

Rudy stared at him for a few moments. Then, slowly, he smiled. The sight of this made Mr. Tabootie's chest warm up, stretching his mouth into a smile. Rudy suddenly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around him. "Oh dad... I love you..."

Mr. Tabootie didn't say a word. He kept his son pressed against himself in a hug. Next to him, Mrs. Tabootie watched and smiled for a few moments, allowing them to enjoy their father and son moment. Only after a while did she take a step forward and joined in the second family hug.

sss

"Rudy...are you sure about this? Remember what happened last time...?"

Rudy looked over at Penny. He knew that she meant well. But he knew that if they didn't take action now, the worse everything was going to get. They couldn't afford to go another day without going into ChalkZone. Not with what was going on there right now.

"Blocky and Rapsheeba will be wondering about us, Penny. And what of Snap?" Rudy felt his gut twist at the mention of that zoner's name. "He might still be alive. He might be their prisoner. We have to go in and rescue him."

Penny nodded her head. "Yes, I know, but Rudy..." She turned her head and looked towards the door. "What if your folks come up and wonder where you were?"

Rudy paused at this. He had already scared his parents three times recently. He didn't want to do something like that again. If he did, how much more damage would he do to their relationship? It was by shere luck that they were able to fix things the other day. Granted he still felt some soreness towards his dad. But at least it was over. And his dad even let him keep the portable chalkboard. Not that he had to, but he guessed his dad must have felt horrible for what he did.

This portable chalkboard was going to come in handy. Although quite small, he could fit through it if he wriggled himself around enough, and so could Penny. They could use it to get into ChalkZone. Although he understood her concerns, he just couldn't remain here and do nothing forever. It was time to take action.

"My dad will be gone all day. He's at work, remember?" Rudy told his friend. "And my mom will be downstairs all day doing cleaning. And your mom..." He pointed at Penny. "...won't be back until this afternoon to pick you up."

Penny nodded. "It was a good thing she let me spend the night."

"Yes it was." Wanting to move on, Rudy said, "We need to go in now, while we still have a chance. We can meet up with Rapsheeba and Blocky and see if they have any news. Then we can discuss a plan to figure out where Skrawl and the memotrice harding. Then we can save Snap."

"If he's still alive..." Penny said solemnly.

Rudy felt his heart clench at this. He knew it was very well possible that Snap was gone. He could feel a tear starting to form in his eyes. He struggled to push them back. No, he couldn't give into the sadness just yet. He narrowed his eyes in determination. There was still hope, still a chance that his friend was okay. "And for that 'if', we owe it to Snap to try."

Penny said, "Yes.. you are right, Rudy. You're absolutely right." As the seconds passed, all except for a tinge of doubt and worry faded away. She looked sternly at Rudy and she nodded her head. "Let's go."

With that, the two friends turned to the portable chalkboard. Whatever was going to happen. They knew one thing for certain.

They would stop Skrawl and this memotrice partner of his. No matter what it takes, no matter how long it took. They were going to stop them, and save ChalkZone.

sss

"Ah...you are ready now." Skrawl said with a smile.

"What? But he..." One of the Beanie Boys tried to say. A glare from Skrawl shut him up.

Skrawl turned his attention back down to Snap. "I had always seen you as nothing more than a nuisance for a while, Snap. But... you have changed my mind about you."

He began to walk towards Snap. The blue and white zoner stood in the center of the room. His posture was quite stiff, his eyes were narrowed, and he stared out into nothingness. He did nothing as Skrawl approached him, allowing him to look all around him and judge him, as if this was a normal, everyday affair.

Snap looked so cunning and intimidating like this. Even some of the Beanie Boys were looking at him with caution spread across their facial expressions. Skrawl had never thought he'd see Snap like this. This was certainly a welcome change from his usual behavior he had grown accustomed to over time. This Snap would certainly be much more useful. Especially considering that he had outperformed his Beanie Boys despite having little training beforehand. How impressive...

"You performed admirably in the tests. You showed skill, grace, and determination. You showed me that you aren't just some 'comical sidekick' as you had been called before." Skrawl said, his smile spreading. "No... you are so much more than that."

"It fills me with honor to hear you say that, master." Snap said as he bowed his head.

"I know it might be early now, but I really do think that you have earned this." Skrawl moved around in front of Snap. He reached forward, holding something in his hand. "This is for you. It is the mark that shows that you are one of my loyalists. An ally, and someone I can depend upon. A symbol of your utmost dedication to me."

Skrawl reached over and placed the small gold band around the zoner's wrist. This was supposed to go to one of the Beanie Boys after he ran rigorous testing. But he felt that Snap had done more to earn it than any of these Beanie Boys had. Most of these Beanie Boys had taken weeks to train. It took Snap only a day to rise up in the ranks and be his top performer. If that wasn't deserving of praise, he wasn't sure what else would be.

Plus this would be a good way to keep on Snap's good side. He knew all too well how dedication that was soured could be the biggest influence when it comes to allies turning against each other. So long as he gave a reason for Snap to want to keep working for him, he could prevent or at least delay the process. This would give him time to think of something to do to Snap should he begin to change loyalties somehow, in case Thoughtless's grip on him didn't last for long.

But for now, Snap was his.

He watched as Snap looked down at the golden band now around his wrist. He turned his arm around, examining it further. He then looked up at him, the look on his face indicating that he was waiting for him to continue. Skrawl did not disappoint.

"Congratulations, Snap." Skrawl said, his mouth twisting up into a grin. "You are now my second in command."

Although the Beanie Boys were not all happy about this, none of them dared to protest. As Snap turned around to look at them, each of the Beanie Boys immediately bowed to him. They lowered their heads and went down onto their knees. Snap looked all around and, slowly, he began to smile. It was clear that he fully accepted this new position.

(I hate to interrupt...)

Skrawl turned his head away to see Thoughtless approaching. Skrawl took a moment to look at Snap. The zoner was busy basking in the glory of the new position he had given him. He decided to leave him at that and he turned his attention back to the memotrice. "What did you need?" He asked.

(I wanted to inform you that Rudy and Penny are now back in ChalkZone.) The memotrice said.

At this, Snap immediately stopped what he was doing. His teeth clenched, he walked towards them, his fists clenched and his body posture clearly hostile. "Let me at them... I'll..."

Skrawl grabbed onto his arm and kept him from going any further. Skrawl shook his head. "I can see you're still working on your anger. Sorry, but you can't go after them yet."

Snap hissed at this. "I deserve this more than anyone..."

"Yes, I know." Skrawl nodded. "Just...wait, okay?" He looked over at the memotrice. "What would you recommend?"

Thoughtless raised a wing towards itself, scratching its beak thoughtfully. (Well, perhaps now, nothing. Let them start to piece the puzzle together. Let them get a few steps closer to uncovering what to do. We will just have to keep a good eye on them to see what their progress is.)

"I don't understand." Snap tilted his head to one side. "How is this going to help?"

"I'm with him." Skrawl said, frowning in confusion. "What do you propose this will do? Why not just focusing on how to keep them from getting far? Wouldn't that make more sense?"

(In some ways, yes. However, there is something you are leaving out.) Thoughtless stated, a twinkle developing in its eyes. (You see, nothing hurts more than to make all this progress, only to be stopped in the end. We wiggle something in front of them, wait, and pull the rug out from underneath. They will be devasted. Mentally weak. Easy to capture.)

Snap's smirk returned. "I'm liking this."

Skrawl scratched his chin thoughtfully. Yes...this sounded really good. He hadn't thought of something like that before. He wasn't sure why. He was glad that Thoughtless had figured something out. "This could be a lot of fun."

The memotrice turned its head towards Snap. (And I believe I know just how we can pull this off...)


	11. Creating Your Own Villain

Rudy was thankful that it didn't take them long to find Rapsheeba and Blocky. They had been nearby when he and Penny came through. The two zoners were happy to see them, and they asked if they had any updates. Rudy and Penny relayed to them what happened in the Real World earlier, but weren't able to provide anything about Snap. Rapsheeba and Blocky weren't upset. After all, why would they be? They were quite sympathetic and were eager to help them figure out what to do.

They all agreed to go to Raspeeba's New Place. Blotz and Zibble were away at the moment, leaving the place all to themselves. They preferred it that way. Not that they hated the two children, but they needed to concentrate on coming up with a plan; they couldn't afford to get side tracked by their antics.

Okay so maybe they would understand and try to help. But at the moment, Rudy would feel better if it was just him and these two zoners. The less zoners he involved, the better. This was a dangerous mission. He didn't want to put any more zoners in danger than what was required. If something were to happen to Blotz or Zibble, or to any other zoner... He shuddered to think about it.

Rudy looked all around as he stepped into the large living room. It still remained mostly the same ever since that day they had arrived there. His eyes focused on the large piano. He remembered what had transpired here, how he and his friends encountered what they thought were ghosts, but instead zoners stuck between worlds. He remembered the piano song that Rapsheeba played afterwards, and the fun they had and...

He shook his head, not wanting to dwell on the past right now. He looked out ahead and spotted the couch. He moved over towards it, Penny following close behind. The two of them sat down in the couch, side by side, and leaned against one another for comfort. Raspheeba and Blocky took position in two chairs situated not far from them, even scooting closer so they were near their human friends.

For a while, they were silent. They stared at one another, giving each other an understanding look. No words needed to be spoken to know what was on everyone's minds. Anxiety and worry filtered through the air, making them all quite nervous and unsure of what was going to happen. There were a number of things going on they had to be concerned with, and who knows how many more will make themselves known? There was that saying, how everything that can go wrong will go wrong. They could only hope that it didn't become so.

First and foremost, they had to stop that memotrice. Right now, that's what was giving Skrawl a dangerous edge. He had no idea how many zoners he used that thing on. Was Biclops the only one or was there someone else? Rudy wouldn't know unless he encountered these zoners, or if he got the truth from the monster's mouth. What he did know for sure is that once he had the thing recaptured and sent back to jail, Skrawl would be greatly weakened. Then he just had to take care of Skrawl. A comparitively easy task. He was used to fighting Skrawl. He and Penny could easily take him down.

There was the question of the jail. He and Penny had heard news, he forgot when, of zoner deaths. The subject made his blood chill. He was certain that was related to the memotrice's escape. He wasn't sure how many of the guards were still alive. He would need to do something to make that place more secure and to protect the guards more.

The fact that the one thing they thought was the monster's weakness didn't work... Rudy wondered if the thing had any weakness at all. The thought chilled him.

Then, once he got the memotrice taken care of, once he took care of Skrawl, then he and Penny could rescue their friend. He would normally do this first, but with that memotrice running around... He wanted to at least stop it first so it couldn't be used against Snap.

That is, if he's even still alive...

He tried not to hink about it, but he knew full well there was the chance that Snap wasn't around anymore. But he wanted to hold onto the belief that he was still alive. Until he found proof of Snap's...demise... He would hold onto the plan to rescue him.

"So..."

Rudy turned his head so he could see Blocky. The green zoner had gotten a little nervous of the prolonged silence and decided to break the tension.

"What are we going to do?"

"That is the question, isn't it?" Penny furrowed her eyes with concern. "We have a memory-altering zoner roaming about. We have no idea what Skrawl is going to use it for. We are certain at least Biclops is a victim, but we have no reason to think that Skrawl would target anyone else."

Rudy looked over at Penny. "You think Skrawl would only target Biclops?"

Penny nodded her head. "Without Biclops's support, it'll be much easier to get into the Chalk Mine."

"That does make sense. I had similar thoughts." Rudy furrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Skrawl knows that, sooner or later, we'll use up the magic chalk that we have. Or it will rot. Whichever comes first." Rudy held up one of his last pieces of magic chalk, staring at it intently. "It does work in Skrawl's favor to simply brainwash the most important zoner and sit down and wait for everything else to fall into place." Rudy closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Skrawl can be quite clever."

Rapsheeba looked over at the two children worriedly. "How do you plan on getting more magic chalk if you run out?"

Rudy and Penny glanced at each other. They gave each other a wordless statement, spoken only through their eyes. They both knew what the answer to that was going to be.

"We will have to sneak in." Rudy looked downwards. "A hard task. Very risky." He looked back at Rapsheeba. "But we have no choice, no do we? It's either that, or we lose all access to it...even get trapped here..."

Penny clenched her teeth nervously at this. "If that happens, then it doesn't matter if Skrawl gets us or not. Rudy and I would eventually starve and dehydrate to death."

"Oh my..." Blocky stared at them with frightened eyes. "We can't let that happen!"

"Indeed, we can't. Otherwise..." Rudy's voice trailed off. He paused for a moment as he let the reality of the istuation sink in. "...other wise, Skrawl may win..."

None of them wanted to think of what things would be like if that mad zoner took over. They had seen how ruthless he could be, the cruelty levels he'd sink to. And they were certain he could be a lot worse. There was nothing to suggest that he would do much worse than he already has done. None of them wanted to imagine what Skrawl's rule was going to be like. They had to stop him before things got that far.

But first, they needed to figure out a plan. And that wasn't going to be easy. Especially since none of them know where Skrawl was hiding right now. Without a location, it didn't matter what kind of plan they came up; it would fall flat if they didn't know where the memotrice was.

Rudy let out a low growl of frustration. The others looked at him with concern etched on their faces. "If only we could figure out where they are hiding.." He pressed his back against the couch further. "Then we could figure out a plan and get those creepazoids and.."

"But how are we going to find out where they are?" Blocky questioned, biting his lip nervously. "We can't just go up and ask someone."

"True. But...perhaps there is a way." Rapsheeba said, scratching her chin thoughtfully. She looked over at Rudy when she noticed he was staring at her with curiosity. "Rudy, do you still have that spy bot thing?"

Rudy sadly shook his head. "I lost it earlier. I don't know what happened to it."

"You could always draw another, right?"

"Well yeah, but Skrawl might have the whole place rigged. He might have figured out that I'm onto him and taken precautions. He's quite intelligent. He might have a little trap set up or at least set up jammerse so my creations won't work."

Rudy didn't mean to sound like a downer. He hadn't meant to put down Rapsheeba's idea. He thought it was quite a good idea. But before he could even accept it, he couldn't help but realize that Skrawl might have done something about that. He didn't want to underestimate that jellybean. Past experience provided a painful reminder for why he shouldn't. No, best to act as if Skrawl had thought of everything and figure out the loophole in that.

"I know this is unconventional... and even morally questionable..." Penny paused for a moment. The look in her eyes told everyone that she going to regret what she was about to say. Yet there was also understanding in her eyes, as if she truly believed this was the better option. Whatever that option was going to be. "But maybe we could...send someone to..."

"You mean find a zoner and see if they could find Skrawl? Send them into danger?" Rudy asked. Penny nodded her head. "Penny... We can't deliberately put another zoner in danger. That's...that's horrible..."

"I know. I'm not happy about it either." Penny hung her head in shame. "I really...really don't want it to come to that. But.." She looked at Rudy in the eyes. "We might not have a choice. If what you say is true, then getting a camera to fly around won't help. As soon as it would get close to the hideout, Skrawl might destroy it. Then he'd be alerted and he could move or take some other course of action." She paused for a moment to allow everyone around her to understand what she was saying. "But if we were to send a zoner in our place... Create a sentient zoner that hates us, who doesn't know that we are its creators, put a tracking device inside of it before it realizes, we could follow it."

"Deliberately create our own villain..." Rudy whispered as he exchanged worried looks with Rapsheeba and Blocky. The thought was uncomfortable. He still remembered his own encounter with Skrawl, and how bad and scared he had felt then. "I can see your point, but..." He raised his hands up. "I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable with that."

"It does seem..risky." Blocky placed his finger tips against his lower lip. "If you go through with this...what would you do with the zoner later?"

Rudy flinched at this. He really couldn't think of an answer to that. What else could be done? He knew there were only two options. Arrest or death. And both of them, he'd feel incredible guilt about. It would be his fault the zoner was like that. He would have created a zoner that was purposely too dangerous to have roam around, that would hate his guts. It would be his fault that the zoner would end up trapped or destroyed.

He wished there was another way. There had to be another thing they could try. Something..anything else... He turned over to Rapsheeba. Surely she had thought of something, right?

But Rapsheeba had a small frown on her face. Not out of anger, but out of sympathy. She was looking at him that that expression that told him many things in one go. The sight of it was enough to make his stomach twist. She did not need to speak a word for him to realize what she was going to tell him. He looked away, lowering his head and letting out a soft sigh.

"This might be our best chance." Whispered Rapsheeba softly. "I...I know you don't want to... I wish you didn't have to either... But if we could feel Skrawl into thinking he has another viable ally..." She raised her hand up in gesture. "..and if we put a tracking device..." She lowered her hand and intertwined her fingers. She shifted her feet nervously. "Well...we could finally put an end to this."

The more Rudy thought about it, the more he realized that Rapsheeba and Penny might be right. He didn't want to admit it, but...this might be their best chance. After all, there was really no way Skrawl could know the newcomer was a phony, in a sense, and the memotrice wouldn't figure out where the zoner came from as it would be created without memories. Well none other than a hatred of him and Penny. He was going to feel incredibly filthy after all this, but... There wasn't much of a choice, now was there?

"All right then... I'll do it." Rudy whispered. "I'll use this plan of yours."

Blocky placed a hand against his mouth and tried not to gasp. "A-Are you sure...?"

"No, I'm not. But..." Rudy looked out the window. He stared at the outside, noting the portion that shifted into the nearby Night Zone. The darkness of that area only accentuated his uncertainty. "We need to find them. And this is the safest way." He looked back at Blocky, giving him a saddened expression. "I'm sorry."

Blocky stared at him for a few moments. He sucked on his lip a little. Then he slowly nodded his head once. "I-I understand..." He gave Rudy a nervous smile. "I'm with you all the way."

"Yeah, me too." Rapsheeba said.

"Me three." Penny placed a comforting hand on Rudy's shoulder. "Do what you have to do, Rudy." She pulled him a little close. She comforted him with her warmth. "Everything will work out in the end."

Rudy wanted to believe her. He wanted to feel comfort in his friends' words. But a part of him still felt horrible for doing this. He didn't want to use a zoner as a tool like this. He would have preferred using the camera. At least that didn't have thoughts or feelings or anything of the sort.

But if there was the chance that Skrawl could figure a workaround, if there was a slight concern that Skrawl could see through that plan and stop him in some way, whether it be jam the device or whatever, then he knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to go for that route. He could end up making things worse, even just by taking the route he assumed to be the most moral.

He looked down at the magic chalk. Well, there was no time waiting any longer. He needed to begin drawing the zoner now. Get it done and over with before he felt too much regret and stopped himself. He gave one more glance at his friends. They each gave him a reassuring nod. He smiled at them the best he could, but that smile soon faded as he remembered what he was going to draw. He took in a deep breath, steadied his arm, and he began to draw, lines rapidly filling the air.

sss

"So let me get this straight." Skrawl rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You want to allow Rudy and Penny to figure out where we are. You want them to be able to come over here, and make them believe that they gained the upperhand?"

The memotrice nodded its head. (Exactly.)

"And you want to...yank their chains, so to speak... At the right moment, launch the trap?" Skrawl added on. At the bird creature's nod, he scratched his chin more, his claw moving back and forth. "An interesting idea..."

He had already gotten the gist of the memotrice's plan. But he wanted a repeat of it so he understood where he was coming from. He wanted to make sure it was still practical. He didn't want to go through with this plan just because of the temptation of knocking Rudy and Penny down a peg. He needed to make sure that it was functional, and would be worth it. He didn't want to waste all this time, only for a slip up to be caused by something as stupid as just wanting to see their reaction.

It turned out that the memotrice's plan did seem pretty solid. It ahd mentioned that it didn't want to launch the trap until there really was no way out. At that point, it didn't matter if Rudy and Penny still tried to get out. They would be helpless, at their mercy. They could then reveal what they had done without worry of those two getting out. Oh how much that would be fun...

He could see the look in Snap's eyes. He could see how the little zoner was very eager to get started. He felt almost bad for him. He wouldn't be able to make his move for a while. It was too early for him to go anywhere just yet. He would need to stay here and wait. He trusted that he wouldn't do anything insane. Snap had shown understanding to the plan. Even if he were eager, a little impatient, he did understand the importances of sticking to what was decided. If he were taken away by those two children, it would be difficult to lure them where they want them to be.

But there was still one part of the plan that Thoughtless hadn't yet gotten around to.

"How do you propose we do this?" Skrawl asked, motioning towards the memotrice. "How do we get Rudy and Penny here? Without them getting suspicious?"

The memotrice raised a foot up and began to scratch behind its head. (I suspect they might try to figure a way to find this place anyway.)

"Well no shit." Snap muttered under his breath. "We all know that."

(I know. I was just pointing out the obvious. Now...) Thoughtless placed its foot on the ground and shook its head and body once. (We just need to have someone lead them here...rather discretely of course. How about your Beanie Boys?) Thoughtless stared over at Skrawl. (I assume they are pretty fast, right?)

"That is true. I did use them to lead Rudy over to my other hideout once." Skrawl took pause at this. He frowned deeply. "And for that reason, I think we should consider something else." He raised his hand up in gesture. "Rudy has seen that trick before. He may figure something out if we just...lead him to where we are."

Thoughtless furrowed its eyes at this. (I see. Well yes, that could be a problem, then.)

Snap folded his arms against his chest. "Perhaps you have another way? I'm sure there's more than one way to...trap a mouse.." He clasped his hands together, rubbing back and forth. "If you catch my drift..."

Snap was indeed correct. There were multiple types of traps they could try. They just had to think really hard to try to figure out which one would be the best fit. He took a moment to think about the circumstances that were presented to them. They needed a way to get these two children from point A to point B, a long distance, without them getting suspicious. Leading them here directly, via some kind of chase, might not be a good idea. So what other options were available to them? What else could they try?

Well, there was the option of setting up a fake location. They could find a place that was easy to locate and put some stuff there to make it look like a hideout. Then do little to actually hide it and hope that Rudy and Penny would stumble upon it. Hmm, no... That might not work very well. Wouldn't those two brats get suspicious if a hideout was just...out in the open like that? He knew if he were in their position, it would certainly seem strange to him. No, he needed to try to figure something else out. Would teleportation work? No... A bit risky. He remembered hearing rumors of what happened to Snap when he went through such a machine. Hmm...but what else could he try...?

His eyes suddenly twinkled when an idea came to him. A smile spread across his face. He stared at Snap and at Thoughtless, both glancing back at him, waiting for him to speak up. He believed he finally figured out a solution to their little dilemma. And it may be easier than trying to force Rudy and his genius girl friend to give chase.

"Thoughtless!" Skrawl took a few steps towards the memotrice. "You mentioned before that Snap here could be helpful in 'yanking the rug' so to speak?" The memotrice nodded its head once. "Well, think he would be useful a few steps earlier?"

Thoughtless tilted its head. (What is your plan?)

"I'm with the bird on this one." Snap stared over at Skrawl. "What are you thinking? I thought I needed to wait before..."

"Yeah you did, but..."

"Then why are you making this suggestion?" Snap asked, his eyes furrowing in confusion.

"I'll explain if you just shut up!" Skrawl snarled at him, hooking his fingers inward. He glared down at Snap for a few seconds, who was staring up at him with widened eyes. Skrawl forced an exhale out of his mouth, trying to force himself to calm down. "Okay, look, I understand this is going against what Thoughtless suggested, but... It's really not all that different. It would make it even better actually."

"Uh huh..." Snap, who had quickly recovered from the little scare earlier, folded his arms against his chest. "I'm listening."

"Well, what I'm suggesting is that we tear off a part of your clothing. Like say...your cape for instance." Snap lifted up his cape and stared at it, frowning. He looked back up at Skrawl, who continued, "Give it to one of the Beanie Boys and send them out to do some discussion. Have them talk about you and the name of a new location. I haven't yet decided where, but somewhere secluded, a place where a hideout would more likely be, and we can set up the trap there. Perhaps a pit or something."

(What did you want the cape for? To entice Rudy and Penny?) Asked Thoughtless.

Skrawl nodded his head once. "Exactly. You know how determined they would be to get back at Snap. Their idea of a rescue mission..."

"Don't call it a rescue mission." Snap hissed through clenched teeth. "We both know that's not what they'd be trying to do."

(Regardless, they'll still call it that.) Thoughtless pointed out. Upon seeing Snap's expression, Thoughtless took a step back. (My apologies. I did not mean to upset you.) Thoughtless raised its head up, forming an S shape, its brown eyes narrowing slightly. (Nonetheless, on some level, they might still care enough for you to be emotionally affected. Perhaps out of the pain of losing control, but an effect regardless.) Thoughtless placed a wing against itself. (Which is what I am hoping for...)

Snap rolled his eyes. "Well if they felt sorry for what they did, they hadn't done a good job with convincing me." He turned his head away. "Besides, I could never forgive them for what they've done to me." He shut his eyes tightly. "I don't care how sorry they are." He seethed through clenched teeth. "They're not my friends anymore."

Skrawl smiled at this for a few seconds. Then realizing they were getting a little sidetracked, he said quickly, "My idea was that they would be determined to get you back. You and I both know how they are. This would give them a bigger reason to try to find the hideout. The Beanie Boys would slip out just enough information that they could use to find us. Then we get the trap ready and we could get them!"

Snap stared at him for a few moments. Slowly a smile spread across his mouth. "That...could work. Except or one thing."

Skrawl stared down at Snap in confusion. "What would that be?"

Snap narrowed his eyes. "You're still having the issue of trying to outsmart them. Rudy and Penny are clever. And your Beanie Boys aren't usually out by themselves. Don't you think they would notice?"

"Well they might have noticed them flying around, trying to find those swords..." Skrawl looked down at Thoughtless at this. "Which, by the way, they hadn't yet found."

Thoughtless shrugged at this. It was not the kind of response Skrawl had expected, but he didn't question it. (Just keep looking. You'll find it.) The memotrice took a step towards Skrawl, motioning a wing out. (So what are you going to do now?)

"Yeah." Snap looked up at him. "Sure you have another brilliant idea in the back of your head, right?"

As much as Skrawl would love to say yes, at the very moment, he did not. He furrowed his eyes and scratched his chin as he tried to think of another plan. He thought he had it with this one, but Snap did remind him of that one flaw he was trying to avoid. How could he get past Rudy and Penny's cautiousness? There had to be something he could do. Despite the frustration eating away inside of him, he continued to think as hard as he could. Sooner or later, an idea would pop into his head.

He then recalled that they didn't have just Snap on their side now. There was also the matter of Biclops. For the moment, the giant was staying in the Chalk Mine, guarding it. The chances of Rudy and Penny having to deal with him as is were low, especially with the plan to capture them and deal with them quicker.

But...perhaps it was time that they put Biclops into good use. After all, what was the point of having a giant on their side if they weren't going to use him? The giant could chase them around, try to attack them. He knew that Biclops likely wanted to crush both of them. He would need to make sure he didn't do that. A meeting with the giant was in order. He could speak to him and get him to understand just what he needed to be done. He had a feeling that Biclops would be willing to listen to him if it involved stopping Rudy and Penny.

He didn't want Biclops to chase the two children to his hide out. That would take a little too long, and the children may get too exhausted and resort to drawing. They could get away unless he figured out how to get rid of their magic chalk faster. He needed to figure out a solution to that as soon as possible, as well as some way to get them to the right location, either here or in that spot he was thinking about, and trap them. But he needed a way that Rudy and Penny wouldn't be suspicious of. He needed...

He glanced down at Snap. All of a sudden, many thoughts rushed through his head. His mouth ticked into a wider smile. Yes... that just might work...

He looked over at Thoughtless, his eyes narrowing and his lips curling back into a grin. "I hope you don't mind, Thoughtless. But..." He looked over at Snap, giving him a similar look as Thoughtless did before. "I have a better idea..."

(Oh? And what might that be?) Thoughtless asked.

"I think we should use a little..." Skrawl reached over and place his hand on Snap's head. "...live bait..."

"Bait?!" Snap took a step back. "Look, you might be my savior, but that doesn't mean I'm going to walk around like a worm on a hook!"

Skrawl waved his hand in front of him. "No, that's not what I meant. What I mean is..." Skrawl leaned in towards him, staring at him in the eyes. "...Rudy and Penny would probably be less defensive around you. They probably think you're weak, unable to defend yourself..."

Snap clenched his teeth at this, breathing in shakingly. He spoke again, his voice slightly growly. "Yeah... and what is your point...?"

Skrawl smiled at this. He glanced at Snap, then at Thoughtless. He saw their looks of confusion. Neither of them fully understood where he was getting at. He tried not to laugh at this. He instead stood in an almost prideful manner, folding his arms against himself. He leaned backwards, giving them a look that told him he was up to something.

He couldn't help but feel some sense of pride of what he had thought of. Yes, only a true genius could have thought of something like this. He couldn't be more proud of himself. He doubted that Rudy or Penny would see through this clever plan. He couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when they find out they had been tricked. He would love to see how they would react when they find out that they had fallen for a trap. He wanted to see their expressions when they saw that their own friend, whom they thought they could rely on, had utterly betrayed them. Oh how rich that was going to be...

But for now, he needed to relay his plan so these two understood it. He grinned broadly, tapping his fingertips together. He gave a soft, low chuckle, his body rattling slightly with each laugh. He shifted his eyes left and right, giving himself an almost mischevious kind of look. Snap smiled at this; he could tell he was scheming.

"I think...we can use this to our advantage..." Skrawl said, his eyes mostly focusing on Snap. "If we play our cards my way, we will have both of them on a silver platter." He gave a short chortle. "Then, Snap...you could have your way with them..."

Snap grinned darkly at this.

sss

Countless thoughts ran through Snap's mind. They circulated around, swimming as if his mind was one big ocean. Even as he stared at Skrawl and Thoughtless, even as they continued their discussion, he still couldn't help but get stucked into his own mind.

He couldn't believe his luck. After all this time waiting, he was going to get his revenge on those two kids. Okay so he needed to wait first. That was fine. He could wait. So long as he was able to get them at some point, he was fine. All good things come to those who wait, right? Or something like that. Despite his growing impatience, he was able to keep himself calm. The prize of getting those two back was worth waiting for.

He wondered how he was going to react when he was able to come across them again. Would Rudy and Penny pretend to care? They did that before, after they tortured him. They acted as if everything was fine and dandy. The memory heated up his blood. How dare they pretend everything was okay... How dare they pretend they did nothing wrong.. If they tried it again, he wasn't sure how well he could hold back.

But for the plan to work, he was going to have to. He needed to play dumb, make them believe he didn't know anything. He needed to make them believe that he still thought they were friends. He can pull the rug out from underneath them later. Oh how satisfying that was going to be...

His mind became swumped with memories of that horrible day. He could still see their sadistic smiles, still feel the pain of the experiments, still feel the fear that they struck in his chest. He still found it hard to believe he had actually trusted those two. How could he have been so naive? He should have listened to Biclops. He knew what he was talking about. If he had just let Biclops take care of Rudy two years ago, none of this would have happened. Instead, he chose to be an idiot.

Well, soon it was going to be time to correct that. Soon, they wouldn't have to worry about those two anymore. If they played their cards right, as Skrawl had put it, then they would no longer have to fear them. And Rudy and Penny would finally get the punishment they deserved.

ooo Then again, did they really do anything? ooo

Snap jolted at that thought. He looked left and right. At first, he thought someone had spoken it. The sentence had been quite clear. But when he stopped to think about it, he realized that it was...from himself...

No, that wasn't possible. Why would he think such things? He knew Rudy and Penny had betrayed him. He recalled what they had done to him. Why would he even think of questioning this? They were the enemy. He needed to remind himself of that. If he didn't, he would end up in another trap set up by them. The ones he thought he could trust...

ooo Why would they wait so long to make that kind of move? ooo

Snap hissed at this new thought. He couldn't tell if Thoughtless or Skrawl were looking at him. He didn't know how well he was hiding his frustrations. He focused on what was going on inside his head, not really caring in that moment who saw him. He let that thought repeat itself a few times, each time making him grit his teeth harder.

What kind of stupid thought like that? It was obvious that Rudy and Penny had waited so they could build up trust with him. He had heard about how some bad guys operated that way. They pretend they are good and friendly and then they backstab the person who had trusted them so much. It was actually not all that uncommon. As a result, it was quite easy for Snap to see Rudy and Penny doing something quite similar.

He had to admit, it did come out of nowhere. But then that's the way it plays out sometimes, right? There was the saying 'expect the unexpected' when it comes to villains. Or well anyone really. You never know who you can trust these days.

ooo So am I trusting Skrawl? ooo

This thought caused his gut to twist. He felt a sense of nausea briefly wash over him.

How could he think that? Skrawl had saved his life. Of course he would feel comfortable around him. He wasn't like Rudy or Penny. He hadn't tried to hurt him in the past. Well okay there were a few times, but that was back before, when he was still an idiot. That didn't mean anything.

He tried to shake the thoughts out of his head and focus on what they were discussing. He tried his best to listen to Skrawl and Thoughtless's input on the plan. He tried to listen for them calling out his name. Such a task was difficult, but eventually he found that he seemed to have banished the thoughts, allowing him to focus on the plan making.

"I imagine that Rudy and Penny will still act like they care, and they would follow you to keep up the mask." Skrawl said.

Snap nodded his head. "Yeah, that sounds like them." He narrowed his eyes as he looked towards the ground. "They probably think I'm stupid... just like when they had tricked me..."

Suddenly another thought came in, striking him like a sledgehammer.

ooo If they had already betrayed you, why would they pretend to be your friend again? ooo

Snap tried his best not to hiss or growl at this comment, not wanting to draw attention to himself as Skrawl turned to Thoughtless for more ideas. His eyes shifted left and right. He was thankful for not being created with pupils; that made it impossible for these two to tell what was going on.

(That sounds good. Perhaps we could...)

Snap hardly heard the memotrice's mental voice when his own clouded over it.

ooo Something about this seems odd. Something is not adding up. ooo

Snap tried his best to push the thoughts out of his head. He couldn't let himself give into doubt. That was only going to cause problems later. It was not good to begin to doubt his savior and go back to those..those traitors. They were the reason that he was hurt. They were the reason that he nearly died.

ooo Well one of the Beanie Boys briefly called Rudy the Great Creator... ooo

It was just a Beanie Boy. That didn't count. Snap heard all kinds of weird stuff from those zoners. It didn't really matter what they thought. They weren't a reliable source of information. He had to stop having these doubts and fast, otherwise they were only going to cause problems later on. He shook his head a few times, trying to get the thoughts out of his mind.

"Snap, is everything all right?" Skrawl asked, his voice having a slight tinge of concern.

(You look upset.) Stated the memotrice as a matter of factly. (Is anything wrong?)

Snap looked at his two allies, his two real friends. He was silent for a few moments, his eyes wide as he realized he had accidentally pulled their attention away from the planning process. He rubbed the back of his head nervously and gave a soft chuckle. He couldn't believe he had done that. He thought he had been so careful. A wave of guilt struck him as he realized he hadn't been as careful as he thought. He hoped he didn't distract them for too long.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry." He said quickly.

(Are you sure? I could...) Thoughtless took a few steps closer to him.

Snap took a small step back, waving his hands in front of himself. "No, I'm good! I just...got distracted by what Rudy and Penny did to me, that's all."

Thoughtless narrowed its eyes slightly. (I...am sorry to hear that.)

Skrawl gave Snap a sympathetic look. "I know what it feels like, being duped by Master Tabootie." To this, Snap nodded in agreement as he looked at Skrawl's design. Such a cruel joke by Rudy. "I understand you completely. That is why we are in this together." He reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. They will pay for what they did."

Snap nodded his head. "I know.."

Skrawl gave a slight smile before he stepped back. "Okay that's enough of that..." Snap chuckled at this. That was Skrawl for ya. "Let's get back to our planning. We need to get everything ready before..."

Snap listened intently to the jellybean's words. His comfort and reassurance helped him push away his previous doubt. He was no longer plagued by those annoying thoughts, feeling them vanish from the back of his head. He was grateful for those two's kind words. It allowed him to refocus on the task at hand, and soon he joined in on the conversation.

As he did so, one brief thought ran through his head.

By the time that they were able to get Rudy and Penny, it would not be quick enough.

sss

Rudy stared at his latest creation. He was silent, unable to think of anything to say. Normally, he would be proud of his newest creations, using them to help ChalkZone. Even sentient zoners like Howdy, he felt pride and happiness for.

But not this time.

This zoner was not created for any purpose he would have liked. He didn't like creating deceitful zoners, or ones that he had to lie to even since the creation day. This zoner's whole life was going to be messed up because of him. And there was nothing he could do to change that. If he dare do anything to help this zoner feel better, it may ruin their plans.

Despite knowing he was doing the right thing, despite knowing that this would eventually help them stop Skrawl and the memotrice, Rudy couldn't help but feel sick. Wave upon wave of guilt kept striking him, reminding him of what he had done. This zoner was his creation. This zoner's whole life was his creation. His doing. It was through his fake memories he gave the zoner that this zoner was going to be troublesome.

None of the others spoke. They kept quiet, hanging back as Rudy finished up his creation, allowing it to sift into life. Rudy watched as the zoner immediately began to struggle against the binds he had made for it. An attempt to make sure that the zoner still saw him as an enemy. And it worked. He could hear the zoner's curses underneath the binds that held the jaw shut tightly. Listening to it made his heart sting, but, remembering the plan, all he could do was glare at the zoner and act like he didn't care.

He looked over at Penny, Rapsheeba, and Blocky. They gave him expressions that were mostly blank, but he could detect a hint of sympathy in them. He focused on Penny, searching her eyes for any kind of statement. She simply nodded her head, gesturing for him to bring the zoner to the location they had agreed upon while he had been sketching the zoner.

Rudy stared down at the zoner, pretending not to care as the creature squirmed about. Rudy fought back the stings of guilt as he lowered himself and scooped the zoner up into his arms. He struggled to hold on as the zoner thrashed left and right. A few times, Rudy flinched as he felt the zoner's claws threaten to cut into him. He briefly regretted adding that feature.

Turning to the others, he said, "Let's drop this zoner off. Hopefully someone will stumble upon it."

Rudy felt sick for saying such a line, especially in that tone. But he knew it was necessary. And so did the others. They nodded in agreement and they began to leave. There was a place not far from here where almost no one goes. That would be the place to leave this zoner. The claws should be useful in escape later on, after they leave. And, if all went according to plan, this zoner would head straight for Skrawl. The tracking device, which the zoner knew nothing about, would then reveal where that jellybean was hiding.

"Don't worry. You will be fine, Cornerstone..." Rudy said softly as he stared down at the zoner. Despite it being a truth he really hoped would come to fruition, the way he had spoken it made the zoner believe there were hidden promises underneath. The effect Rudy wanted, but not one he was proud of.

Without saying another word, they all disappeared out of the house and began to head towards the designated location.


	12. Not As Planned

Although he had no fear of being stopped or trapped on his way, after all not many would dare try to go after him, Skrawl still exercised caution as he headed towards the giant's cave. He didn't want to do anything stupid that would cause him to lose control of the big guy or jeopardize the plan. It'd be one thing if one of his minions messed things up, but for himself to do it... No, he would not allow himself to mess up one of his own plans and taint his record.

He decided to go this alone. He didn't want his Beanie Boys doing anything to mess things up. Besides, he knew some were jealous that he had given Snap such a high rank even though he had only been with them, what, a day at least? They might try to do something to win back his favor and that was not something they could afford right now. No need to waste time. He was better off doing this alone.

He could see the Chalk Mine straight up ahead, across the river, which curved around it partially. And there, standing just outside the entrance, was the giant himself. He stood there with his arms folded and his eyes narrowed. He looked more determined and aggressive there. Likely a side effect of his memory beieng altered.

The sight of it made Skrawl smile. He kind of wished that Rudy would try to come in now and get more magic chalk. It would be so entertaining to see the boy realize that he no longer had access to the magic chalk and would now have to fight through Biclops to get it. That would certainly be a sight to see. A shame he didn't think of doing something like this back when he and Craniac 4 were working on that plan. That would have made things even easier.

Well back then, the memotrice didn't exist. Thoughtless was a very young zoner, at least in terms of human years. Plus making Biclops think Rudy was the enemy would have jeopardized that plan, as it revolved around Biclops trusting Robot Rudy to go into the mine, after which it would have been destroyed.

The memory of that failed plan made him clench his teeth. If only Craniac 4 hadn't been such an idiot, they would have been able to stop Rudy. It was all his fault that his brilliant plan didn't work. Well, this time, things were going to be so much different. He would see to that.

As he got closer, he could tell the giant had spotted him, but gave no aggressive reaction. No smile though, but nothing that indicated he wanted him to leave. A positive sign. Before, as soon as Biclops would see him get close, he would try to chase him away. This time, he remained put and watched as the jellybean came ever closer. Skrawl did not utter a word as he walked over, his face remaining stern and serious. Almost as if he were going to propose some kind of business deal with Biclops. Which, in a way, he kind of was.

Skrawl crossed the river. He ignored the chills and cold water that splashed all over him. He hated swimming, but he ignored this distaste as he made it to the other side. He shook himself off, getting some of the loose water droplets off. He combed his claws through his purple hair, drying it out a little in the process. He then turned his attention to Biclops, who was staring down at him with a look of curiosity. Not wasting more time, Skrawl made his way over.

"Greetings." Skrawl raised his hand up and waved at the giant. Biclops didn't say a word. Noticing no attempt to send him away, Skrawl moved in a little closer. "How are you today?"

Biclops scoffed at this. "I'm not sure why you're asking that."

"Oh I was curious, is all." Skrawl said, giving a small smile. "I know you feel hurt about Rudy and..."

Biclops hissed, "Don't even talk about it."

Skrawl nodded his head. "Yes, of course." He paused for a moment. "Well actually, that is what I came here to talk to you about. I was wondering if you were interested in a little...proposal?"

Biclops raised an eyebrow at this. He stared down at the jellybean for a few moments. His facial expression squinted as he entered deep thought. This lasted for a few seconds, and then the giant took a small step towards him. "A proposal?" He questioned. At Skrawl's nod, he said, "Hmm I'll have to think about that. I know you had tried opposing Rudy before, but I'm still unsure of just...how trustworthy you are."

Skrawl looked to the ground, making a sad look. "Yes I know. Him being my creator already puts me at odds' end."

"Indeed." Biclops nodded in agreement. He softened up his expression and let out a sigh. "But..I suppose I can't hold that against you." He turned away, staring off into the distance. "Not like you can control who draws who and who doesn't."

Skrawl said, "Yeah, that is true. Of all the people who could have been my creator, it had to be that guy..."

Biclops looked at him with sympathy. "Tough luck I suppose..."

Skrawl nodded. He took a moment to look around at himself. No words were needed for him to convey the message to Biclops. He didn't need the memotrice to alter his memories to believe that Rudy still blamed him for his looks. Skrawl still held him responsible for what had happened to him. Oh he might not have ever mentioned it to Rudy in a long time, but he still held hatred for his appearance and still blamed him for this.

He took a moment to raise up his arm and stared at it. He looked down and saw part of his body. He could feel his insides burn in anger. He was so ugly, so bizarre, so... He didn't fit in anywhere. He was nothing more than a monster. That's how he was treated. The mean looks, the dirty comments... Well if everyone was going to treat him like he was a monster, then he was going to be the monster. He was going to be the biggest monster they had ever seen, and once he took over, he would find all those who had bullied him the worst and have a little fun with them.

That was part of the reason he wanted to take over ChalkZone. It would give him power and dominion over those who had tried to squash him. Once he was king of ChalkZone, he would order those who had given him the worst trouble and make them do whatever he wanted. Perhaps even 'play' with them. And they'd have to do it; he would be their king after all. He could do much worse to them if they dare tried to leave.

But for now, he focus on this plan. Getting rid of Rudy would be the first step in achieving his ultimate goal. This would be the hardest part. The kid was a creator after all. Then there was Penny, whom had been even smarter than he'd imagine. He had been duped by her and made into a fool. Oh how joyous it'll be if he ever gets his claws into her...

"What did you have in mind?" Biclops's voice cut through the air, interrupting him. "You hadn't spoken anything about your plan yet."

Skrawl realized he had been quiet a little longer than he had thought. He cleared his throat and he began to move towards the giant. "Yes, well, are you aware that Rudy and Penny are presently in ChalkZone?"

Biclops's eyes widened at this. Then they narrowed into slits, gritting his teeth. "Tell me exactly where they are..." His eyes practically glowed with hatred. He raised up his fist slightly, shaking it. "..and I will be glad to take of them for you. It'll be doing me a favor as well."

Skrawl smiled inwardly at this. He then frowned slightly. It was very tempting to allow the giant to go after the two children. Depending on how fast Biclops was, he might be able to get to them quickly enough that he could strike them before they could do anything. But that wasn't part of the plan, and he had no choice but go against it. Besides, what he did have planned was going to be so much better.

"Are you aware that they betrayed Snap?" He asked the giant.

Biclops immediately took on a look of horror. "Oh I'm so sorry..." A pause. "How is he?"

"He's fine. But very angry as you might well imagine." Skrawl brought his claws together, clasping them carefully. "They hurt him badly. Experimented on him. I did manage to save him before it got too bad. He's walking around now."

"That's good." Biclops said, giving a look of relief on his face. "It would be awful if another zoner fell into the hands of the creators. I've seen a lot of creator-related violence long ago." He narrowed his eyes, his nose scrunching up. "I would rather die than to allow it to fall into such chaos again."

At this, Skrawl had a fleeting though. Perhaps he could arrange for the giant to die too? That would eliminate any guardian for the mine, which could save him trouble later on and...

No, best not. There was no need to kill Biclops. His memory had been tampered with and he saw him as an ally. Even if he somehow remembered the truth sometime, by then it would be far too late. Rudy and Penny would be long dead since then. And ChalkZone would finally be his.

"He and I have been discussing a plan to trap those two. I think you might be interested in participating, right?" Skrawl looked at the giant in the eyes. "After all, I know how much you want to get even with them for what they have done..."

Biclops let out a low growl at this. It rumbled in his throat and seemed to almost cut through Skrawl's chest. "You...have no idea..."

That was what he liked to hear. A clear threat, forged of hatred and anger. The same emotions that would be used as a weapon, a sharp spear to cut those two off and prevent them from leaving. Skrawl tried not to let his mouth tick into a twisted smile, despite the temptation and excitement rising up inside of him. Oh the things that could be done to those two... Oh the things that he could come up with..

And it was all going to start right here.

He hunched his body and began to rub his hands together. "Would you be interested in hearing the plan...?"

Biclops narrowed his eyes into slits. "You should already know the answer to that..." The giant took a few steps towards him. For a moment, Skrawl felt so small and powerless in the shadow of the huge zoner. He was able to stand his ground and return the glare with the giant. "Tell me what you have in mind. I'll be more than happy to help take care of those...vermin for you..."

Skrawl's mouth stretched into a smile. "Excellent..."

Skrawl could feel his chest filling up with excitement. He couldn't believe that, at along last, Biclops was acting as an ally for him. This was something he never thought would happen. Even though Biclops had been tainted since the other day, it still had taken him a while to fully accept it. It felt so surreal, like it was nothing more than a distant dream. He wanted to pinch himself to see if he would wake up, but he knew this was real.

That was how he knew that things were going to be different this time. He knew that, after all was said and done, Rudy and Penny would be taken care of. There would be no more creators in ChalkZone. No one left to opposte him. He'd be free to do whatever he wanted. And most of all, he'll be able to take revenge against those who had wronged him, and Rudy would finally pay for making him look like a monster.

"Snap has taken a strategic position in a specialized location. It took us a while to figure out a good spot. I will give you the coordinates there. He will remind you of the plan that I am about to explain, and he will leave, but stay close. You are to then locate Rudy and Penny. Don't worry, I will give you their location once it becomes aware." Skrawl explained. "You are to chase them to where Snap is hiding. Snap will pretend to rescue them and will lead them into a trap set up for them."

Biclops allowed this information to digest inside his large skull. He rubbed his chin back and forth along his chin thoughtfully as he analyzed the plan given to him. Skrawl waited for him to respond. There might be more to the plan later if something happened, but this should be enough for the giant to follow.

"Where is this trap? And what do you want me to do after?" The giant asked.

"Don't worry, you will know where the trap is." Skrawl said with a grin. "It will be easy to recognize. Now as for what to do..." He raised his hand up in gesture. "I don't care if you hurt them a little while chasing them. But after they are trapped, leave the rest to me." He placed a hand against himself. "I will make sure they have no more magic chalk and they will remain my prisoners. Well at least until they give into dehydration and starvation."

Biclops's eyes flashed with horror at this. "That seems rather harsh..."

"But necessary. They have Real World blood, wish could dull weapons and hurt anyone who is too close. No poison will work on them. This is simply a better way."

"Perhaps electrocution then?"

"That is an option. I will consider it."

Skrawl knew that Biclops's concern wasn't really involved with any care of Rudy and Penny. It was simply due to the giant having a discomfort towards prolonged pain. The giant might try to admit that he wants to see them suffer, but due to his nature and his past, he would never feel fully comfortable with the idea. Fair enough. Just as long as the two children were eventually dealt with, he would be fine with it.

The idea of starvation and dehydration had been his first and foremost plan. Not that he wouldn't torture them beforehand, but he did like the idea of prolonging the pain and watching them wither away. But Biclops's suggestion of electrocution did sound pretty good as well. It would kill them faster but it would look so much worse than just depriving them of food and water. It would look more satisfactory, even if it would be a bit too short for his taste. Well, he could always have them repeatedly electrocuted.

But there was also his claws...

He still intended on using them on the children at some point. Perhaps after they were captured and rendered chalkless. He knew the first thing he was going to do. He would love to see the boy's reaction when he tore up his arm and took away his ability to draw. He could just imagine him bawling like a baby. So satisfying...

"So...you okay with the plan?" Skrawl asked as he gestured to the giant. "Do you have any questions?"

Biclops shook his head. "No. I'm good." A pause. A thoughtful expression. "Well then again..." He looked upwards in deep thought for a moment. He then looked back down at Skrawl. "There is something."

Skrawl folded his arms behind his back. "All right. Ask me."

Biclops paused for a moment, biting his lip. Whatever he wanted to ask, Skrawl could tell it wasn't an easy question. He did not try to rush the giant and gave him all the time he needed to speak. At long last, Biclops forced out the question, "What do you plan on doing after they are gone?"

Skrawl froze at this, staring up at the giant with wide eyes. He seriously hadn't expected this kind of question. He had to resist the urge to say 'take over ChalkZone', as that might make him an enemy again in the zoner's eyes. No, he had to think of something else. Another way to answer this that would satisfy the giant. But, as an ache spread through his head, one question remained dominant in his thoughts: How was he going to do that?

sss

It was with a heavy heart and guilty conscience that Rudy left Cornerstone in the desired location. He had help from Penny. The zoner was a little big and a little heavy, and it was easier for both of them to carry it over...

No, not it. Her. Rudy felt a pang of guilt for referring to the zoner as an 'it', like it was some mere object.

Cornerstone was a fine creation. Well in everything except the mind of course. She was a long zoner with a snake-like face, long sharp barbs on the back of her neck, and feet that terminated in two sharp claws, almost blade-like in appearance. Her hide was bright gold, almost solid save for a bit of red underneath her throat, as if splashed there by some great weapon. Her bloodshot eyes had constantly darted around, seeking something to bite.

Rudy had never intentionally created a monster like this before. Pound for pound, Cornerstone was quite malicious. In some ways, she might be a bigger threat to Skrawl than he was to him. He felt a level of pity for when she would eventually find him. If Skrawl wasn't careful, Cornerstone might rip him apart. She would have very little trouble doing that with those claws of hers.

But there was still hope. She was also keen of mind. She might be ferocious, but she still had some intelligence in her. She could be negotiated and reasoned with. She may listen to Skrawl and join up with him. He would have to hope so, otherwise this plan was going to fall apart. He had no trouble believing Skrawl would take her in; her dangerous status and her hatred of him would make her a perfect partner in his eyes.

The rest would be up to him and Penny. Things were going to be quite tricky. They would need to monitor the zoner from a distance and determine with their machinery creations if she was even with Skrawl. Then they would have to devise a plan to get over there without, or at least before, Skrawl discovered the tracking device. He was certain that he would figure it out eventually. So speed was key here.

Then there was the matter of Snap. If Skrawl was keeping him prisoner, which Rudy had little doubt of, he would have to get to the hideout before Skrawl thought of sicking Cornerstone on him. Rudy would not be able to wash away the guilt of that, even if he was forgiven. It would be one thing if Skrawl, a zoner he barely had any participation in, hurt Snap. It would be a whole new ballpark if Cornerstone would be the one to hurt him. Snap would be injured by his own engineering. The thought made him sick. Almost to the point of throwing up. He felt a cold shudder, and he shivered, trying to get the feeling out of his head.

Now that his monster of a creation was set free, left in the forest, tied up and gagged, all he could do was wait. She would get free eventually and begin to move. Or someone would find her and untie her. His gut twisted when he realized that they might find out he was the one who drew her and put her in that position. He only relaxed when he realized he did not give her the ability of speech. But still, someone might find out.

If they did, he could only hope that they understood why he did it. It was for the good of ChalkZone. There were simply too few options handed to him. Stopping Skrawl was top priority. Even if it meant doing...uncomfortable things...he knew it had to be done.

He turned over at Penny. He could see the guilt wracked in her face. She had not been the one to draw the zoner. She did not engineer Cornerstone. But..she had helped in the decision. She had encouraged him to draw such a deranged zoner. In many ways, she felt responsible for how the zoner was. Considering her gentle nature, so much like his, he could sympathize with her and understand what she was going through. None of them should have been forced into this situation. Yet here they were.

He moved closer to her as they walked away. His body lightly brushed up against her. She looked over at him, giving him a sad look. He responded by reaching over and looping an arm around her. He pulled her close, pressing his head against hers.

"Don't worry." He said, trying to be as gentle and comforting as he could. "It will be all right."

Penny let out a sigh. "I know it will. I just..." A pause. "I just wish it didn't have to come to this. That zoner...didn't deserve this..."

Rudy winced as he felt his heart pang. "I know..." He briefly thought about Cornerstone and what her thoughts must be right now. "I wish there was another way. But as you said...we need to find Skrawl. And the memotrice."

"Yes." Penny's eyes narrowed slightly. "They need to be stopped."

Neither of them could disagree to that comment. How could they? They both knew it to be true. Skrawl and the memotrice were the most dangerous threats to ChalkZone right now. They needed to be apprehended before they did any further damage. The thought of what they had done to Biclops sickened them and they didn't want anymore zoners hurt by them.

Especially their friend. They both knew, with a twisted gut, that Skrawl might decide to torture Snap, if he wasn't already dead by now. Just to get back at them, he could rip Snap apart and leave his body for them to find. They tried not to think about such a possibility. If Snap was alive, they would rescue him before Skrawl managed to get that far.

Rudy still felt guilt over Snap's capture...his possible...death... He flinched at that last word. He felt he should have kept a better eye on things. He felt he should have been able to stop the capture. If he had just fought against Reggie harder and got away... if they had been more careful and avoided Reggie seeing the light... if they hadn't gotten themselves in trouble... Then maybe, just maybe, things would have been so much different.

But there was little they could do about that now. Wishing for Snap to be okay, wishing that he had done something, anything, different, that was going to do little to help Snap right now. Rudy and Penny both knew they needed to focus on trying to finding Skrawl.

And find him, they will.

"How long do you think it'll take Cornerstone to get out of her binds?" Rudy found himself asking.

Penny looked over at him, looking slightly surprised he asked that question. They had already figured this out before, but Rudy just wanted to make sure. "I believe we calculated, with the ropes, that she would get free in about twenty minutes. She's strong enough to cut through the ropes with those claws."

"And after...?"

Penny let out a sigh. Her pacing slowed down, as did Rudy's. "That I'm not sure of. We can only hope that she goes to wherever Skrawl is. Attracted by his power and anger." She lifted her head and looked towards ChalkZone City in the distance. "But..." She bit her lip nervously. "There is still the chance she will instead head into ChalkZone City and wreak havoc."

"I had a feeling about that... Equal chance of her going back here, right?" Rudy said, his question almost retorical. Penny answered it anyway with a nod. "We will have to stop her if it comes to that."

"Yes. Before she hurts any zoners." Penny stated, nodding her head.

"At least I know her design and her weaknesses and everything." Rudy said softly. "That's of some comfort." He paused. "I'll still feel guilty if any innocent bystanders were hurt by her."

Penny stopped. She gripped Rudy's shoulder tightly. She whirled herself around and stared at him in the eyes. "Let's just focus on the plan right now. We need to worry more about stopping Skrawl, otherwise there would be a lot more hurt zoners."

As much as Rudy would find it difficult to focus more on Skrawl than on victims of Cornerstone, he knew that Penny was correct. They couldn't split their efforts up too much and had to remain focused on the most important problems. And that would be Skrawl and the memotrice. If they spent too much time worrying about preventing all zoners from being hurt, then they would only make things harder when it came to stopping Skrawl. Even Penny, whom he could tell was wracked in guilt, understood this, as did Blocky and Rapsheeba.

He thought about those two. They were still at Rapsheeba's New Place, waiting for them to return. He had drawn the parts to the scanning machine they were going to need. He asked them to put it together. Or at least Rapsheeba. She was smart enough to figure out the parts and she said she'll have it put together by the time they got back.

"Come on... Let's head back to the others." Penny said. It was as if she could read his mind.

Rudy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan." Without saying another word, he and his friend began to head back to Raspheeba's New Place.

sss

Run. Run. Run.

That's all she could think about.

Run. Get free. Run.

She struggled on the ground, her long body whipping this way and that. Her elongated jaws struggled to open up. The tight rope held her jaws shut. Muffled hisses filled the air. This intertwined with her thrashes, hitting against the nearby rock and tree in a fury.

That human. That boy. Her creator... He was responsible for what had happened to her. He had created her just so he could toy with her. He had intended on coming back with some kind of torture device. But she will make sure he didn't get far enough. She would not only be well away by the time he dare showed his face here again, she would be coming after him. Her teeth would sink into his flesh and she would soon taste his blood.

Her long tail, tipped with a blade, clanged against the ground. She tried to bend it over, tried to use it to slice herself free. But her attempts were futile. Her tail just wouldn't bend that far. She tried to arch her back, but this did little to make things easy. She hissed as she felt her backbone ache in that area. She had no choice but to stop. If she continued like this, she would end up breaking her tail and she would still remain like this.

Her claws might help. If she could just get a certain angle... She kept on working one of her paws over. She ignored the pain and ache she felt as she tried to get it out of the ropes. It was wrapped up tightly, her circulation nearly stopping. She could feel it cut into her skin a little. Despite this, she kept on trying.

She refused to give up. She was determined to get herself free. Her reptilian mind kept racing, kept telling her, urging her, to struggle and free herself. Instinct began to take over, clawing its way in the back of her mind. Her eyes widened as she felt this primal urge move through her body. Every pore, every portion of her body, it was telling her to free herself and she was determined to do that. She would make her creator pay for toying with her like this. She didn't care who she hurt in the process. So long as she brought down Rudy Tabootie, nothing else mattered.

And nothing else will ever.

Soon, she could feel her paw loosen up a little. The rope was still wrapped around it tightly, but now she could move her limb a little. She twisted it around and bend her claws downward. She could feel it slip between her two digits. She closed her claws together. She could feel the rope bend to her whim. She rubbed the fingers from side to side, and soon she could feel something snap and break away.

Almost instantly, she felt some relief. With some of the pressure now gone, her wrist wasn't hurting as much and there was more movement available for her. With a determined hiss, she wrenched her limb about, taking full advantage of this newfound freedom. She snipped at the other rope, allowing it to be cut and fall down. More and more rope was cut, she got more and more movement back. Soon her other limb was free, and it became much easier, and much faster, to cut at the other rope.

At last, the only thing remaining on her was the rope that tied her mouth. Before she took care of it, she stood up on her legs, her long body arching upwards. She reached up with her paw and she grabbed onto the rope, her two claws slipping underneath it easily. She pulled on it hard, ignoring the pain of the rope snapping behind her head as she ripped away the final pieces of rope. She let it drop to the ground in a thump. She smashed her foot down on it as she moved forward, her blood shot eyes staring out ahead. A low rumble escaped her throat as she turned her head from left to right.

Now...where did Rudy Tabootie go...?

From her previous angle, she was not able to see exactly where he had gone. It didn't help that the bastard drew her without a sense of smell. Such a curse for a snake. She had only her eyes to rely on. And they weren't going to be of much use for her to figure out which way the boy had gone.

Would he have gone to the city? Hmm no... That would seem too obvious. Too much cover. Too many zoners. She would have a hard time getting to him. She would have too many zoners to fight. She wasn't sure if any of them would defend the boy, but she would rather try to avoid that. She wanted to save as much of her energy as possible going after and fighting Rudy. He was the one who deserved the most out of her sharp teeth and sharp claws. Oh what she was going to do to him...

She didn't waste too much time fantasizing. She had work to be done. She whipped her head towards what appeared to be more empty plains. He would have gone this way, perhaps? Yes. It was the most bare. He would think she wouldn't try that way, as there wasn't much cover. He thought she wouldn't think that he'd go that path. Well she was smarter than he gave her credit for. She stretched her snout in a long smile. She raised her foot up and she flexed her pointed claws. Soon, she was going to dine on his flesh.

Letting out a long, low, primal hiss, she zipped along the ground swiftly. Her body moved from side to side, her belly low to the ground, her long tail flying out behind her. She kept her mouth open, exposing her long, sharp teeth. Her eyes began to glow with determination. Her body became a golden blur as she picked up the speed. Soon she would set her eyes on her target and she would strike.

sss

"So looks likes he's on the move." Rapsheeba said.

"She's moving faster than I thought." Blocky commented.

"Well she was supposed to be smart." Rapsheeba told him.

Blocky clenched his teeth nervously. "Yeah, but she wasn't supposed to get out of the rope until about about fifteen minutes later. She got out a lot faster than we thought." He gave a shiver. "Do you think she's going to...?"

Rapsheeba held her breath at this. She realized that Blocky was making a very good point. This creature, she really did get out quickly. Rudy may have been her creator, but she was still making progress even the Great Creator himself hadn't predicted. Still, she tried to be as positive as she could be. Swallowing hard, she said, "It's still within acceptable parameters. Everything will be okay."

"I sure hope you're right." Blocky said softly.

So did she, Rapsheeba admitted to herself. She did not say it outloud, however. She didn't want to worry her friend. She wanted to have him focused on this mission's success. They got this far. She was sure that, somehow, they would be able to get the end result that they wanted. The creature might have gotten free faster, but that's no reason to believe that she would think to go after Rudy. She wouldn't know where to begin. Skrawl had a better chance at finding her than she did finding Rudy.

At least...she hoped so. Rapsheeba knew that so much could go wrong here. She was aware that if they weren't careful, they could end up messing things up quite badly. They hadn't prepared as much as they should have. This fact annoyed her. She wished they had taken time to think of alternatives, in case Cornerstone didn't behave how they wanted. But then...time was of the essence. The faster they acted, the better.

Nonetheless, she kept her eyes glued on the machine before her. A tall, obsidian black box with a black screen was situated in front of her and Blocky. There were multiple buttons that could be pressed, each one wielding a different ability. The monitor itself was curved, as if to give it a more panoramic view. The screen was lit up, a slightly red glow curving all around it. And displaying on the screen for them to see was a blue contour map, a bright yellow dot, sticking out like a swollen eyeball, moving about it.

She and Blocky situated themselves in front of it. They focused their attention on the dot. They watched as it moved around quickly, going at speeds that they weren't even thought were possible for snake zoners. Then again, she had been designed by the Great Creator and she did have those thickly muscled legs to carry her across the landscape. Perhaps they shouldn't be too surprised by this.

Rudy and Penny would be back here soon. Rapsheeba was amazed that they were able to put this together so fast. Well, her anyway; Blocky had a hard time reading the instructions Rudy gave them. While they waited for those two to get back, it was their duty to keep an eye on the zoner and see where she was going. If she went off course, they would have to alert Rudy and Penny when they got back.

At first, she seemed to be heading in the right direction. Her path was consistant with what Penny believed would be the most likely course she'd run into Skrawl. At least, based on data where one of his minions would most likely appear. Some Beanie Boys had been spotted earlier. Not causing any trouble; just kinda floating around. While this was troubling in of itself, after all they were Skrawl's minions, they decided to use this to their advantage. After all, why try finding Skrawl directly when they could have the Beanie Boys take her here? They were loyal to Skrawl; surely they would be smart enough to see potential in her, right?

However, it soon became apparent that something was wrong. Rapsheeba narrowed her eyes slightly and she moved forward, staring intently at the screen. She watched the dot as it began to move in a different direction. She noticed there was a few moments pause before the change, as if the snake zoner was thinking about her destination. This caused her to clench her teeth tightly. What had gotten the zoner's attention...?

Blocky noticed her expression. He looked up at her, tapping his fingers together nervously. "What is it...?"

Rapsheeba didn't answer. She kept her eyes glued onto the screen before her. Many thoughts were running through her mind. Just what was it that this zoner had seen that caused her to go in a different direction? Had there been a Beanie Boy out that way? Perhaps Skrawl was there? Without any more detail on the map, she had little way to tell for certain.

She kept watching the dot as it moved. Before she was moving up north, the pathway they had wanted. But now she was headed in a different direction, to the right. And now she had slowed down to almost a crawl. It only took Rapsheeba a few seconds to realize what she was doing.

She was stalking.

But what was she stalking? Had she spotted some prey in the distance? Was she listening in on a conversation? Had she... Rapsheeba cringed at the thought. Had she found Rudy and Penny already, and was she preparing to rip into them?

Now the zoner was moving in a broad circle. She was arching around something, coming around to another area to strike. Typical predatory behavior. She kept her eyes on the screen, her heart clenching as she wondered what the zoner was up to. This wasn't the behavior that they had hoped for. It was an anomoly. If they could just figure out what she was going to do, then...

Blocky got up and he took a few steps forward. He lifted a finger and pointed it at the screen. "Say, Rapsheeba...?" Blocky spoke softly. "Isn't that...?" His voice trailed off as his eyes bulged in horror. Rapsheeba had never seen the color drain from him so fast.

Her heart skipping a beat, Rapsheeba took a closer look at the map. Her eyes shifted from one side to the other constantly. It took her a few moments, but she soon started to see what Blocky had been worried about. These lines, these contours.. They matched up perfectly with... She placed her hand to her mouth and gave a sharp gasp of horror. Her blood turned to ice as she turned her head and stared down at Blocky in horror. He stared up at her, clearly thinking the same thing. In order for the dot to be moving here, that means that Cornerstone was...

Suddenly there was a loud crash and a bang. Portions of the wall spilled over. Dust kicked up into the air. Rapsheeba and Blocky turned their heads away, hiding their faces from the pillowing smoke and dust that swept through the room they were in.

After she managed to clear her throat, Rapsheeba, her arm still covering her face partially, her eyes darting around. She could see a wavy shadow forming on the dust cloud before her. Then a second later, she saw the head of Cornerstone pop out, her jaws split open wide. She had little time to call out for help when the snake beast slammed against her, knocking her into the ground. She wheezed as the air was knocked out of her chest. She struggled to catch her breath as the beast pressed her foot against her chest.

"Rapsheeba! No!" Blocky called out as he rushed to her. Cornerstone merely struck him away with her tail like he was some kind of nuisance.

For a few moments, Cornerstone stared down at her, her senseless tongue flickering in and out wickedly. Rapsheeba stared up at her in fear, her teet clenching tightly. She grabbed onto the foot and tried to push it back. This earned her a low hiss from Cornerstone. Her head reared back and she struck.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!"

Rapsheeba's scream echoed in the air. She could feel blood rapidly pooling down her shoulder, the beast's teeth sinking deep into it. Pain washed through her swiftly, freezing her body, making her unable to move. The more she struggled, the more the teeth tore into her body. Rapsheeba's mind became clouded and muggy in pain.

As she stared up at Cornerstone, her vision starting to blur, a chilling realization rushed through her.

Rudy had made Cornerstone venomous.


	13. Cornerstone

It was difficult to say if this plan was going to work or not. She tried her best to keep herself feeling positive about it. Despite her attempts, she found herself being reminded of how they may have needed to spent more time figuring out backup plans instead of just rushing right into this. An anomaly might have occurred without them knowing it, which would throw this plan way out of balance.

Yet, as she kept reminding herself, they didn't have a whole lot of time. They needed to get this plan out as soon as possible. If they delayed it, who knows how many more zoners might be affected? Who knows if they would even be able to stop Skrawl before it gets too bad? Who knows what else could happen?

Already there was a number of damages already caused by that memotrice.

The loss of Biclops was quite major, cutting them off from supply of magic chalk. While they still had some magic chalk, it'd only be a matter of time before something happened that would cause a problem with that. Sooner or later, they would run out, and then what? They would hardly be able to sneak back into the mine without any magic chalk to help defend themselves. It would be too dangerous, especially with Biclops trying to kill them.

There was also the fact that some zoners had already been killed. The jail where the memotrice had been taken to, she forgot the name of it but she recalled that some of the guards had been slaughtered. She was thankful that she and Rudy didn't end up going there themselves. From what was described, it was a rather gruesome scene. They could already see the gory details in their heads and that was good enough for them.

Penny tried her best not to let that stuff get to her too much. She tried her best to keep herself concentrated on the plan that was presently being put into play. They had already dropped off the zoner in the designated location, and the ropes weren't due to break until after a while. Once she was freed, there was no question that she would want to come after Rudy, whom she believed had hurt her on purpose. All part of the plan, even if they didn't like it too much. Then she could find Skrawl and...

Penny realized that they didn't really figure out that part all too well. They didn't really know if Cornerstone would find Skrawl or the Beanie Boys like they were all hoping. It was all based on luck and hope for the most part. A part of her felt some shame in that. They really should have figured out a way to make sure she ran into that jellybean so they could use her to follow Skrawl to his hideout, or the Beanie Boys for that matter.

Well it was too late to do anything about that right now. They were just going to have to deal with it and move on with the plan as is. Surely Cornerstone's actions, even the unplanned ones, would be enough to attract Skrawl's attention. He couldn't miss them; they would be reported and it was apparent that he has television if he knew about the memotrice's existence. They would just need to keep an eye on the machine that Rapsheeba and Blocky were setting up and eventually they will notice the dot moving somewhere that they weren't aware of. All they'd have to do was wait.

She and Rudy continued to move down the pathway, heading straight back to Rapsheeba's New Place. She had no idea if Rapsheeba was able to finish building that device or not. She did have confidence that she would, but even if she didn't, that wouldn't be too big a problem. She and Rudy would be able to finish up the rest and then they could get started.

She could tell from Rudy's expression that he wasn't entirely sure of this plan either. She could also detect the guilt in his eyes, still there from what he created Cornerstone. She could sympathize with him. It wasn't easy purposely creating messed up life. Not something that she thought she or him would be doing anytime soon. Even if it was necessary, it was still hard and not something either of them, especially Rudy, could get over too quickly.

She turned her head up towards the sky. She admired the beauty of the transition, the smeared orange and yellow that separated the Day and Night Zones apart. The stars faded away as it went into the Day Zone section and the blue rapidly faded away and changed into the familiar golden afternoon sky when it went into the Night Zone. And of course, it never moved. It was always like this, a permanent spectacle for anyone to come in and see.

And there, situated along this terminator line, was Rapsheeba's new place. A large portion of it in the darkness while the other was in the light, illuminated by this Day Zone's sun. Penny took a moment to admire it. This was not something she would ever see in the Real World. That was one of her favorite things about ChalkZone. It didn't follow the same rules and regulations, and spectacles such as this were common place here.

Rudy and Penny began to head down the small hill leading towards the house. They didn't see Rapsheeba or Blocky greeting them and they immediately realized they might still be working on the machine. Not a problem. They expected this, and they still had time before Cornerstone would be up and moving about. They continued to head towards the building.

When they got closer, Penny began to notice something strange about the building. There was something eminating from the house. Something low, barely there, but she could still detect it. Just what was it? She couldn't figure it out at first. Rudy looked over at her, giving her a confused look. It was clear that he, too, had detected something as well. Not knowing what to expect, the two of them began to move closer to the large, half-lit house. It was only when they got closer that Penny took notice of what she was detecting.

A series of low sounds. Continuously rumbling in a long string of nonstop reverberation. Faint, but as they got closer, Penny started to pick up individual sounds. And as they became more and more clear, her eyes started to widen in shock.

Screaming. Crashing. That's what they were hearing.

Her heart clenching tightly, she rushed forward towards the house. Rudy took notice of this as well and he followed close behind her. As they got closer to the building, they began to notice something else. What appeared to be smoke appeared to be pillowing out at the sides. Well not so much pillowing, but they could still see it, as if something had broken through the wall.

Which it did. The two of them ran around to the side and they could see there was now a large hole, present on the Night Zone side of the building. Right where the living room would be. Right where... Oh no...

The two children rushed to the opening as quickly as they could. They climbed over the small pile of rubble as they made their way into the building. As soon as they got in, they were greeted by the side of rubble spread all over the living room. Rocks and wood and pieces of other stuff just laid there, almost the way a small child would spill their toys all over the room. But it wasn't the room's mess that caught their attention or horrified them. It was what was going on in the middle that concerned them.

"What? I-It can't be..." Penny stared in shock.

"No..." Rudy whispered, shaking his head. He took a small step back. "I-I..."

There, in the middle of the room, was Cornerstone. She...she had gotten free. Much earlier than either of them had thought... And she had made her way over here. The snake-like zoner had burst through the walls and were attacking Rapsheeba and Blocky. Her long, reptilian body squirmed about as she moved along the ground, going after Blocky. Rapsheeba was on the ground, looking pretty badly beaten, puncture marks around her shoulder, a bit of blood still trinkling down her arm.

Blocky wasn't without injuries either. It was hard to tell when they first came in, but now they were in, they could see that Blocky had some scratches and bruises on him. He didn't appear to be bit, much to Penny's relief. She had seen the razor sharp teeth of that reptile zoner. Them alone would be enough to cause a lot of damage. But Rudy did mention about making Cornerstone venomous and...

Her face paled at that realization. Cornerstone...was venomous. She turned her attention to Rapsheeba, looking at the ring of tiny holes in her shoulder. Rapsheeba had been bit. She was..what was the term... venomized. Her breath stalling for a second, Penny immediately rushed to the singer zoner's side.

"Rapsheeba!" Penny cried out. She didn't bother asking how she felt; she could tell from her condition that she was not having one of her better days. She instead raised her hand up and lifted a single finger. "Tell me how many fingers I am holding up."

Rapsheeba, however, could not respond. A few groans, as light gurgle, but not much else. She raised her head up a bit and looked at her. Penny noticed how unfocused her eyes looked and how her eyelids would not stay open for very long at a time. The venom had already begun to take its course. She would need to do something to help Rapsheeba, but her mom didn't train her enough in venom treatment. She would have to be taken to a hospital and...

She ducked her head as Cornerstone flew over her, the air whipping by her. The reptile had lunged at Blocky, who had come over this way, perhaps to beg her to help them. She watched in horror as Blocky was pinned on the ground. Letting out a loud hiss, Cornerstone opened her jaws, her tongue flickering despite it being useless.

Oh no...what should she do...? She couldn't leave Rapsheeba's side. She needed help and leaving her would leave her vulnerable to the crazed zoner and also prolong the venom's torment of her. But she couldn't leave Blocky either. He was in trouble and he needed help. She would feel awful if she just stood here and did nothing but watch as Blocky was pinned down and bit by the snake-like zoner. What was she going to do?

Without warning, there was a blur, a grunt, a crash, and before she knew it, Cornerstone had been knocked into the ground by Rudy. His hands had grabbed onto her neck and she pinned her down the best she could. As he kept her busy, Blocky was able to slip away.

Penny watched this scene go on in shock, her eyes bulging. She hadn't expected Rudy to move so fast. Though she felt relief that Rudy was able to stop the attack, her concern now shifted over to him. There was no way he could hold her down for very long. Not with how Cornerstone was squirming and whipping her body all around. It was only a matter of time before she would be able to strike him with her claws. The venom might not work, but those sharp claws sure would do a lot of damage. And he was her main target.

She looked down as she saw Blocky rush over towards her. She could see the raw terror in his eyes and it was clear from this distance that he was hurt worse than it looked. She had no doubts in her mind that he was flung around like a ragdoll by this monster. The mess all around her confirmed this suspicion. Even the machine that they were going to use to track her had been broken, shattered. She felt a brief pang of anger at this. All that planning, wasted... She tried not to dwell on it too much as she turned her head towards Rudy and watched the fight.

"What are we going to do?" Blocky said softly, his body shaking. "She...she just came out of nowhere and..."

"It's all right." Penny whispered to him. She glanced down at Rapsheeba and stroked her hair. She shuddered at her weak, scratchy breathing. "We will fix this. Somehow..."

Lifting up her head again, she looked back over at where Rudy was fighting the snake zoner. He still had his hands gripping her neck tightly, holding back her neck so she couldn't try to bite him. That was of little comfort to Penny because now she could see Cornerstone trying to get him with her claws. The efforts were short-lived and already a pair of two claws sliced into Rudy's arm. The boy stiffened up and hissed at the blow, yet he still refused to let go.

Cornerstone didn't appear happy about this. She split her jaws open wide and she let out a loud, long hiss. She gripped onto his side and started to drive her claws into his side. Rudy let out a cry of pain as the claws began to penetrate his skin and flesh. Fresh blood began to leak from the wound.

Her eyes wide in horror, Penny cried out, "Rudy! No!"

At this, Cornerstone whipped her head over in her direction. Penny froze as those horrible, red eyes locked onto her, freezing her in place. For a few moments, Cornerstone simply stared at her, as if calculating something. Penny cringed back away from her, but she refused to run, unwilling to move very far from Rapsheeba's side. Then finally, after a few moments of just staring, Cornerstone appeared to lose interest and she now paid attention only to Rudy.

A long piece of rope was wrapped around her jaw in a matter of seconds. Rudy had taken advantage of the distraction and had been drawing a defense in the short time that he was able to gain. Cornerstone pulled her head back, jerking it from side to side, trying to get her head free. Rudy pulled on the rope tighter, sealing the mouth up and preventing it from being open. With Cornerstone now pawing at the rope, Rudy was able to get himself up. He then yanked hard, causing Cornerstone to fall into the ground. He got on top of her back and was about to restrain her when pain wracked through his body from his newfound wounds.

With him doubled over in pain, holding his side, his teeth clenched tightly, he was not able to stop Cornerstone from wrapping her tail around him and pulling him away. She lifted him up into the air, letting him dangle by his leg. He swung the back and forth slowly, fighting against gravity so he could hold onto his side. Blood still trickled from the wound, staining his clothes and dripping onto the ground. There was a slight dissolving effect on the ground where his Real World blood touched. It appeared to have gone unnoticed by Cornerstone, who focused her eyes on Rudy's face.

As Penny stared at the beast, her best friend hanging over her, the mouth opening up wide, showing the sharp teeth... she knew she couldn't stand here for any longer. She had to take action.

But what about Rapsheeba? She couldn't leave her all alone. She had to think of something and fast. She turned her head and she remembered that Blocky was standing there still. They both needed to go to the hospital, but the closest one was still a distance. Perhaps if she drew something that they could use...

Without thinking, she quickly drew a small hoverboard. Not the best thing, but it was the first thing that came to her mind. There wasn't enough time to think of anything more elaborate. Once she was finished, she nudged it over to Blocky. He stared down at it in confusion, and looked up at her, waiting for her to explain.

"Here. Use this take her and you to the hospital." Penny said, her voice urgent. "Before you protest, remember that you are hurt and she was poisoned. You need help fast."

"But what of..."

"Don't worry about us! We can handle ourselves!" Penny placed Rapsheeba's nearly unconscious body onto the hoverboard. She applied the metal bands she had placed on it on the zoner's body and limbs to keep her from falling down. "You two have got to go!" She picked up Blocky before he could try to protest again and placed him up at the front. "Now get going!"

Blocky stared at her for a few moments before shifting his gaze to where Rudy was. His eyes widened with great concern as he watched the situation that he was in. "I think I should..."

"If you stay here, you could just get more hurt." Penny warned him. She glanced down at Rapsheeba. "And think of her... She's in trouble.." She looked back at him. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to her. Right?"

Blocky widened his eyes. Then slowly he nodded. "Yeah... I don't want her to..." His voice trailed off, his body giving a quick shudder as he thought about her possible fate. He then narrowed his eyes and nodded his head once. "You can count on me."

Penny gave a small smile as the zoner activated the hoverboard's controls. It took him a few moments to get use to it, but it didn't take too long. She had given simple controls so he wouldn't have too much trouble getting the hang of it. She turned her head towards Cornerstone. As she listened to the hoverboard disappearing, she began to take some steps towards the reptilian zoner.

In the back of her mind, she started to try to think of how she was going to deal with this particular zoner. She hadn't thought of a plan yet. She needed to get her to release Rudy. But how was she going to do that? Well, maybe if she gave her another target... Penny looked at herself up and down, and then she glanced over at Rudy, noting the couple of injuries that he had. She narrowed her eyes in determination. Without further delay, she sucked in a deep breath and she rushed over to Cornerstone, her feet pounding the ground.

Cornerstone had heard her and turned her head. But the snake zoner was a bit too slow and before she could react, Penny latched onto her. She grabbed onto her front limbs and struggled to hang on. The zoner let out a loud hiss at this, swinging her head to one side and staring down at her with one red eye. Her lips curled back into a snarl and she exposed her long, sharp teeth. She snapped her jaws in her direction, causing Penny to jump back, releasing the zoner.

Cornerstone attempted to strike at her again. With loud hiss after loud hiss, her jaws snapped at her wildly, coming in at her, her holding Rudy doing little to slow her down. Penny kept moving back and to the side, narrowly avoiding getting hit. Cornerstone's attacks were so frequent and so close to her head that she could practically feel a constant warm breeze against the skin of her neck and face. After the sixth time, Penny tried to fight back. She formed a fist with her hand and she struck at Cornerstone's head. She let out a cry of pain as her fist ended up slicing against the sharp teeth, causing a deep gash to form along the back of her hand.

She immediately clutched her hand to her chest, cradling it. She looked down and examined her wound. She took notice of the long, bloody cut that now adorned the top of her hand. The sight of it made her cringe, her head turning to one side for a few moments before forcing herself to look back. Blood pooled down from her hand, now forming small puddles of blood on the ground. Just like with Rudy's, they started to partially dissolve that part of the ground.

As she stared at her hand, she failed to notice that Cornerstone was coming in her direction. By the time she noticed the shadow forming on her body, by the time she heard Rudy's warning shout, by the time she even started to turn around, it was too late.

An explosion of pain rushed through her body as Cornerstone struck her, slamming her body against the small girl. Penny let out a cry of pain as she was crushed up against the nearby wall. She felt the back of her head hit against the hard surface, causing a pounding headache to spread through her skull. Cornerstone kept her pressed there for a few moments before pulling back quickly, letting Penny to stumble forward, struggling to keep herself balanced. This didn't last long before Cornerstone raised her paw up and struck against her back hard. Penny found herself slamming into the ground, her chin hitting the floor hard. She yelped as she felt her teeth press into her tongue.

However, Cornerstone did not continue her attacks. It was clear that her main target was Rudy. That was who she was created to despise. Penny lifted up her head and she watched in horror as Cornerstone wrapped more of her tail along Rudy's body and began to apply pressure. Rudy's eyes bulged and his mouth opened up to try to breathe. This task became increasingly difficult as Cornerstone applied more and more pressure and it wasn't long before Rudy wasn't able to breathe much at all.

Penny's eyes widened at this, her head racing with thoughts. She looked left and right as she tried to figure out what she was going to do. She struggled up to her feet, staggering as she clutched her side, feeling a bruise start to form there. Cornerstone's attacks had aggravated her old injuries from Reggie's doing, and judging from Rudy's expressions during the attack, the same thing could be said about him.

How was she going to help Rudy like this? How were they going to get out of this mess? Rudy was in no condition to draw anything and Penny could see her pieces of magic chalk laying near the snake zoner; they had been knocked loose from her. She wouldn't be able to draw anything to stop this creature. She needed to think of something else, but what could she do?

Whatever she could think of, she would have to do it fast. She lifted her head up as she heard Rudy let out a small squeak, a scream impossible with his ribs being crushed like that. She looked at him in horror, her heart beating quickly. There had to be something...anything she could do. With a racing mind, she kept looking left and right, even up and down, hoping to find something close to her that she could use against the beast. A piece of sharp debris, a long wooden piece ripped away from the wall, anything.

Her eyes soon settled on the red puddle beside her, caused by her own bleeding. She noticed that her hand was still bleeding rapidly, still dripping. The puddle on the ground was getting bigger, sinking in a little further. Penny kept her eyes on the red puddle, noticing a bit of steam rising up from the ground. She slowly lifted her head up, her eyes widening in realization.

She slowly turned her head back to Cornerstone. She gritted her teeth tightly. She didn't want to have to do this, but...there was little choice in the matter. She hunched her body up defensively, trying her best to ignore the pain she was in. She took in a deep breath to prepare herself, and then, seconds later, she took off running, approaching the snake-like zoner for a second time.

Cornerstone turned her head and stared at her. Penny could have sworn she saw the zoner give off a slightly surprised, but mostly annoyed expression. It was almost as if the zoner was going to ask 'you again' to her if she had vocal cords for the job. This time, unlike before, Cornerstone was not going to allow her to get too close without making an attempt to stop her. Her claws raised up into the air, the tips shining, poised to strike. When Penny got close enough, the zoner struck down, aiming for her shoulder. Penny managed to turn away just in time, the claws missing her completely. The golden zoner hissed at her and tried to bite her, launching her head forward. Again Penny dodged. Before the zoner could try to strike again, Penny took this chance to latch onto the zoner's throat, holding it tightly. As the zoner began to squirm, the girl immediately pressed the back of her hand against the zoner's left eye.

There was an immediate reaction. Steam rose up from where her hand was pressed. Blood was almost immediately apparant as her own Real World blood reacted with the chalky nature of this zoner. Cornerstone's long mouth opened up, revealing a loud, long cry as she squirmed her head, trying to get away from the girl's burning touch. Penny was able to hang on for a few moments, watching with some guilt as some of the zoner's blood began to trickle down the side of her face. Then, with a mighty yank, Cornerstone freed herself and immediately struck Penny away.

Rudy let out a grunt as he crashed into the ground, Penny's burning blood being enough to loosen Cornerstone's grip on him. Penny immediately rushed to his side. Taking care not to hurt herself more, she knelt down beside him and began to overlook his injuries. While she did this, she couldn't help but look up at the zoner's horrible screeching. She turned her head and she took a look at what her blood-based attack had caused.

Penny held her breath when she saw the severe burning on the zoner's face. The eye looked badly damaged, swollen and puffy, blood seeping out of it. The damaged pupil was enough to tell her that this zoner either couldn't see anymore or had very poor vision in that eye now. And all around the eye itself, a deep, disturbing red ring around it, and blood dripping down from where the skin had been broken through. Some steam was still rising from the wound.

It was clear this was causing a lot of pain for the snake zoner. Cornerstone was squirming all around the ground, pawing at this eye, shaking her head, trying to escape the pain. A series of constant, horrible hisses kept eminating from her mouth, stretched so wide open, Penny was surprised the mouth didn't rip away from its hinge.

Then finally, after some thrashing around, some more screeching, Cornerstone, the horrific pain tearing through her body, finally turned and bolted away. Penny watched as her long body and flailing tail knocked over a few things as she bounded out of the hole that she had no doubt created herself. Soon her hisses faded away, disappearing out of her hearing range.

The realization that they couldn't track her right now unless another machine was drawn graced her mind for only a few seconds before she turned her attention down towards Rudy. The boy was seething in pain, causing her heart to clench. She grabbed onto his arm, the one that wasn't slashed up by Cornerstone, and she started to push upwards. Slowly, she managed to help Rudy up to his feet. She supported him the best she could, allowing him to lean against her.

"Rudy, we have to get back to the Real World. We need to get these injuries treated." Penny said.

"But... Rapsheeba... Blocky..." Rudy started to say.

"Don't worry about them. I drew them something they could use to get out of here." Penny reassured him. "They will be fine." She started to walk forward, urging Rudy to do the same. "We will come back here as soon as we can. But first, we need to have these injuries treated before they get infected."

Rudy didn't put up much of a fight. He understood where Penny was coming from and he started to follow her willingly. After a minutes of walking, leaving the house and heading towards Rudy's house, the young boy began to be able to walk on his own without assistance. Still a slight limp, but he recovered his nerve enough and could handle the pain to the degree that he could walk without her holding onto him. The two friends headed along the grassy plain, making their jounrey back to Rudy's home.

Rudy let out a small hiss. Not of pain, but of disappointment and guilt. "I...I thought it would work.. I thought..."

Penny looked at him sympathetically. She gently touched his shoulder. "I thought it would, too. You're not alone."

"We should have...known better.." Rudy growled softly. "We only caused more trouble."

Penny's expression softened up. "We wouldn't have known what would have happened, Rudy. We did it only for the concern of ChalkZone. We..."

Rudy snapped his head in her direction. "Well we did a poor job of it!" He growled. Penny looked at him in silence. Rudy widened his eyes in realization and he pulled his head back. "I'm...I'm sorry.."

"Don't be. We're both upset about what happened. But remember, neither of us could have predicted things would have went down like this. All we can do now is just keep moving forward. After we get ourselves treated, we will come back here and do something about Cornerstone. We can draw another machine, locate her, and capture her so she won't cause anymore damage." Penny wasn't sure how easy she would be to catch, but she knew it had to be done. It no longer mattered if she went to Skrawl or not; she was too dangerous to keep loose.

Rudy lowered his gaze towards the ground. "I-I hope Rapsheeba will be okay..."

"She will be fine." Penny tried to assure him the best she could. She wasn't sure how far the venom had traveled or just how lethal it was. Still, she tried to remain positive. "Blocky's taking her to the hospital as we speak. It will be all right."

"I hope so. I..I don't know what I'd do if she..." Rudy bit his lip as his voice trailed off. A flash of fear came over his face. "I-If Snap is alive, and Rapsheeba...dies...because of me, would Snap even forgive me?" Rudy looked at her, his eyes very wide. "Would he...hate me...?"

Penny stared at Rudy in shock. "Rudy...how could you think such things? You know that Snap could never hate you. You're his best friend."

Rudy stopped and closed his eyes. "I know. It's just...I can't help but worry."

"It's all right. We're all having a tough time right now." Penny urged him to keep walking. "Come on, let's get going. Later, if Snap is...with Skrawl," She dare not say the word 'dead'. "..and after we rescue him, I assure you, he will never say he hates you."

Rudy smiled at this, reassured by her words. Then he resumed walking, keeping himself close to Penny's side.

sss

"I hate him..." Snap hissed under his breath. "I will always hate him.."

Skrawl paced around Snap slowly, eyeing him up and down. He took note of the zoner's body posture, how his eyes were narrowed into slits. Snap's facial expression, so distorted with anger, did not change no matter how long he stared at it. Nonetheless, he kept pacing around him, watching him for any falter, any change. He had to be sure.

"Are you sure about that? He could say something to you that would bring you back to his side. He could appeal to you...coax you..." Skrawl continued to circle the small zoner, his arm placed behind his back. "How do I know that you won't turn your back on me?"

Snap raised his shoulders up, his eyes narrowing further. "Why would I ever think of going back to him? I'm not stupid! I would never fall for his tricks again!"

Skrawl paused for a moment. Then he said, "You never know. The future holds so many things. How can I be certain that nothing will change?"

Snap looked up at him. He could see a brief flash of gratefulness in those eyes. "You saved my life. I would always be indebted to you." He lowered his head in respect. "I don't care what Rudy says. He will never change my mind about you."

Skrawl couldn't help but smile at this. So far, this was going really well. He knew it wasn't necessary to keep asking Snap these questions. He had already shown he was unlikely to return to Rudy. But he felt he just had to ask, just to make sure that he stayed on the right track. It also served another purpose. By asking Snap these questions, he could plant it inside his head the types of tricks Rudy and Penny might use to coax him back. Now that Snap knew what to look for, he was less likely to defect.

It was for security purposes. He did have some level of concern that Snap might eventually break out of the spell. He hadn't noticed him faltering in any way yet, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't happen at some point. He was aware of how false memories can eventually cause problems after a length of time. The memotrice did say that it was quite thorough with the changing, but Skrawl had a feeling that some pieces had been missed, thus he had to keep an eye on Snap to make sure nothing happened.

At least so far, it was working quite well. So long as Snap continued to hate his original creator and kept seeing him as his savior, the blue zoner would be unlikely to betray them. And besides, it wasn't like they needed to have him; he and the memotrice could continue just fine on their own. And they wouldn't need to work too hard to keep up this charade; once Rudy and Penny were out of the way, there would be little to trigger the...proper memories.

"That's all I needed. Thanks for your reassurance." Skrawl placed his hand on Snap's shoulder.

"Anytime." Snap said with a small smile. "Rest assured, I would never betray you. I'm not going to be like...like those two.." He couldn't even speak their names, his face scrunched up in anger. The sight was enough to make even Skrawl slightly unnerved.

He quickly recovered, however, and he gently pushed Snap over to where some of the Beanie Boys were. "Why don't you practice some of your leadership skills?" Skrawl suggested. "If you're going to be my second in command, then you are going to have to get used to leading."

Snap whipped himself around and pounded a fist against his chest. "This will be easy! I'll be able to lead them around like an army of ants!"

"That's what I'd like to hear!" Skrawl placed his hands on his hips. "You will make a fine second in command." Snap smiled at this. Skrawl then raised a hand and pointed at the Beanie Boys. "Now get to work practicing. If any of them disobey, let me know and I will deal with them myself."

Snap nodded his head. "Right, boss!" With that, he turned himself around and he rushed towards the Beanie Boys. "Hey you! Listen up!"

Skrawl watched as Snap began to give orders to the Beanie Boys. He didn't bother to stay and watch. He wanted to go speak to Thoughtless for a bit. Giving Snap and the Beanie Boys one last look, he turned around and he headed down the hallway.

He had no fear of leaving Snap alone. It wasn't like he would go anywhere. If he tried to for some reason, the Beanie Boys would stop him. That was one of the reasons he made him second in command. It assured that there would be plenty of Beanie Boys with him at all times. If Snap did anything suspicious, anything that showed that Thoughtless's control over him was breaking, the Beanie Boys could easily jump him and restrain the little blue boy. Even though he was rather impressive in the training room, that was meaningless if he was against many large, flying zoners that could move faster than him.

He continued his way down the hall, passing by a few rooms as he did so. He paid no attention to them, focusing his eyes on what was ahead of him. It was only when he started to come up to a door that was open that he changed direction. He went through the open doors and he headed into a small room.

It was the guest room he had provided for Thoughtless. The memotrice didn't request much space, so Skrawl gave it the smallest free room he had available. There wasn't much in here. A few books, a nest, and a bucket of water. Not much else beyond that. It was a bit strange to Skrawl, but he didn't bother to question it. It wasn't something that really concerned him anyway.

He walked towards Thoughtless, who was laying in its nest. One of the books laid in front of it, opened up and already several pages in. Thoughtless was using its foot talons to turn the pages. He watched as Thoughtless kept its head positioned still, its eyes moving from side to side as it stared at the page, tapping a couple of its talons against the material. Then it would reach over with its head, grip the page with its beak, and turn it. The process would repeat itself like this.

He was briefly curious about what book Thoughtless was reading. He then shook the thought out of his head. Who cares what book this bird...reptile thing was reading? It wasn't important to the plan. Pretending that thought never happened, he approached Thoughtless even closer.

When he got close enough, he opened his mouth to speak. He was taken by surprise when Thoughtless cut him off before a single word could be uttered.

(I know you were in here.) Thoughtless's mind voice was emotionless, unsurprised. (What is it you need to talk to me about?)

Skrawl wondered how Thoughtless could have known that he was coming. Had his footsteps been too heavy? Skrawl brushed that thought aside as he walked faster, arching his gait around so that he could appear in Thoughtless's sideview. "About those swords..."

At this, the memotrice pulled its head back and turned it. Both eyes of brown settled on Skrawl. (Any word yet?)

"I'm afraid not. My Beanie Boys searched everywhere and they can't find them." Skrawl held his hand up in gesture. "Perhaps you could give more of a hint of where they are? Surely you know something more." Skrawl allowed a tiny smile to make it upon his face. "Then I..." He noticed Thoughtless's expression. "I mean..we... can use their powers to help us rule over ChalkZone!"

Thoughtless stared at him for a few moments before it looked away. It turned its attention back down to the book. (They are simply not looking hard enough. But then again, these swords were not meant to be easily found.)

"No kidding." Skrawl mumbled. He thought back to the disappointing report after disappointing report. His Beanie Boys had not found anything remotely magical anywhere in this wide vicinity. It made him wonder just how dangerous they were, if the creator went out of his...or her...way to hide them from Thoughtless. "So you know where they are?"

Thoughtless gave him a deadpan look. (If I knew that, I would not have asked you to go look for them.)

Skrawl growled softly, but nodded his head. "You have a point there." He thought for a few moments and said, "Do you have any piece of advice?"

Thoughtless's beak curved upwards slightly in a smile. (Did you try using a heat seaking device?)

At this, Skrawl felt like slapping himself in the face. Of course...why didn't he think of it before? Thoughtless did mention earlier that the swords had a heat signature and thus could be detected by a heat seeking device. However, this moment of eureka-ism didn't last too long as he realized a problem with that. "There's too much heat signatures in ChalkZone. It would mask the results."

Thoughtless raised a wing towards its face at that, scratching its wing claws against its cheek. (So I see. I suppose that will have to be remedied.)

Skrawl raised an eyebrow at this. "And how do you suppose we do that?"

Thoughtless shrugged its wings. (You can figure something out.) Thoughtless stared at him with its bright brown eyes. (You are clever enough. A solution will come to you.)

At this, Skrawl couldn't help but smirk. "Yes. You are right. I will make sure that a solution slithers in our direction, no matter what it takes." He clutched a fist, pressing his sharp claws against his palm. "I guarantee it..."


	14. Struggles And Failures

"How...how did this happen...?" Mrs. Sanchez whispered as she looked over the two children. "What did you do?"

Rudy lowered his gaze. "We were just playing and...things fell and..." He flinched at the uncomfortable memory.

"It was just an accident." Penny spoke up. "We were playing outside and we fell out of the tree and this happened." She looked down at her own injuries. Her eyes focused mostly on her hand, which appeared to have been slashed, possibly by a tree branch. "We aren't hurt too badly."

Mrs. Sanchez couldn't really completely buy that. She took note of Rudy's limping earlier and she knew that it was a little more serious than that. But she didn't want to argue with her daughter. She wanted to instead focus on treating these two children. They needed to be cleaned up, and they likely needed yet another trip to the hospital. The doctors were going to think they were accident prone or something.

She could see Mrs. Tabootie standing quietly behind them. She had been the one to bring them over here. Mr. Tabootie was nowhere in sight. He was still working. But he was informed of what happened and he would be over as soon as he could. It won't be for another couple of hours, however. In the meantime, she would treat the injuries.

She was happy to see that they didn't get too many new injuries, so she didn't have as much areas to cover. These wounds were also on the surface. She could see them, note how bad they were, and determine in her head how long it would take for them to heal up. At least the wounds had stopped bleeding, but that was of little comfort to her. The wounds could still attract germs and if the infection spread, they would be much worse off than they presently were.

She guided the children into her exam room, the same place where she provided initial treatment after Reggie had attacked them. It didn't take them long before they reached it. She shut the door behind her, allowing some sense of privacy, even though there was no one else on her property except for the animals. She then motioned for Penny to sit up at the table first while Mrs. Tabootie and her son sat down on the nearby seats.

Mrs. Sanchez reached up to the nearby cabinets. She grabbed some supplies, the same ones she had used on them before, and she sat them on the table. She picked up the dry, clean cloth and went over to the sink to wet it warm water.

As she did so, she couldn't help but let her mind wander a little. She started to think about how this could have happened. Penny and Rudy did already explain it, but she still couldn't help but try to piece the puzzle together. As she watched the water drip through the cloth as she wrung it out, she began to realize that something just didn't make complete sense to her.

Those injuries that they had... They didn't seem to be very constistent with the story of falling out a tree. The cuts appeared too deep and weren't at the right angle for falling out of a tree. She had fallen out of trees herself in the past, and she never got anything like what Rudy and Penny had here. Neither did any of her childhood friends growing up. Especially not that deep. Not to mention, none of the trees in Rudy's yard would have been suitable to make the cuts, or even in her yard. Most of the branches weren't sharp enough and the ones that were couldn't have been fallen from and result in the same injuries as these kids had now.

The most baffling injury was the one she had seen on Rudy's side. Those were puncture wounds. Rudy had to have landed on something at his side in order to produce that wound, and there was nothing in either yard that had such a thing he could have crashed up against. Something else caused that injury, and the others on top of that.

She had no idea why the children were lying about their wounds. Don't they know how much she and the other parents care about them? Why would they feel the need to lie about where they were getting these injuries? What were they afraid of?

At the thought of this, she froze for a split second, her eyes widening. Afraid... That was it. She knew exactly what was going on. She could feel her blood start to heat up at the realization.

She thought they were done there. She thought that they wouldn't have to worry about it again. But it would seem she was wrong. And now another blow had been delivered against her daughter and against Rudy. Don't people ever learn their lessons nowadays? She tried her best not to growl; she did not want to disturb Penny or Rudy more so than they already were. She looked over at them sympathetically. Those poor, poor kids... What did they do to deserve this?

She tried her best to push those thoughts aside. She would take care of it later. Right now, she wanted to focus on treating them again so they could feel better. After, she was going to make a phone call, and this time, she was going to make sure that this comes to an end.

With the dampened, warm cloth in her hand, Mrs. Sanchez approached her daughter. "Hold up your hand, Penita.." She cooed gently. "I need to clean it off."

Penny was a little reluctant at first, but she needed no further prompting. She raised her hand up, motioning it towards her mother. Mrs. Sanchez gently gripped her wrist from underneath and steadied it. She then brought over the piece of cloth and and she pressed it against the wound. Penny let out a quick hiss, gripping the table with her hand. She soon relaxed as her mother gently began to rub along the wound carefully, cleaning it.

sss

"But...but dad...!"

"No buts!" The man hissed at the boy, his arms folded against his chest. "I thought that the suspension and community service would have been good enough to teach you a lesson. Well I see I was wrong." He pressed two fingers against his forehead and rubbed it. "I thought I raised you better than this..."

Reggie felt his heart starting to race. No... This couldn't be happening. He had to be dreaming. This had to be some kind of nightmare. A confusing, horrible nightmare. He had no idea what was going on or what happened. The only thing he knew was that his dad thought that...

"According to what Mrs. Sanchez told me over the phone, you had attacked Rudy and Penny again." His dad glared down at him. "How could you do that, son? After what happened before..."

"But..." Reggie gripped the sides of his face. He pressed his nails against his skin. His eyes bulged open. "I'm telling you! I didn't do it! I hadn't even gone near their house! I don't know where they live! I was here, playing with Dumpster, I swear!"

His dad didn't seem entirely convinced. That same glare remained on his face. He could see a bit of redness in it. This caused the boy to take a few steps back, unable to tear his eyes away from his dad's face. He could see the anger raging on behind those orbs. A firestorm concealed inside the skull. A part of Reggie was glad that his dad was still managing to hold back. He didn't want to start to think about what might happen if his dad totally lost it.

His thoughts swirled inside his head as he tried to make sense of the situation. He had been just informed that Rudy and Penny were hurt again. His dad didn't elaborate too much, other than mentioning a few new gashes that appeared on their bodies. Reggie was shocked to hear that news and it made him worried that there was some sort of psycho out there, and that he might be next. But then his dad said it was his fault...

But how could he have done those things? He had been in this house the whole time during when the attack would have taken place. He wasn't due to go to his assigned community service until a couple hours from now. Not to mention, he doesn't even know how to get to Rudy's or Penny's. He will be the first to admit that he's not too bright and cannot contain most information well unless it suits him. And knowing where those two lived wasn't a top priorty. So...how could he have been involved at all in the attack?

And why would he do something like that? True, he had them hurt badly before, but that time, he had allowed his paranoia and fear get the better of him. He felt some level of guilt of having them hurt that badly, even if he didn't show it all too well. He had no interest in going after them a second time. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to get any new information from them.

"I promise you, father, I did not do anything to them." Reggie pleaded with his dad, hoping that he would come to understand. "I swear, I was home the whole time. And even if I did know how to get there, their home is pretty far from where we live. How do you think I got over there, hurt them, and come back without anyone noticing, especially you? You were home all day too."

His dad continued to glare at him for a few moments, but then, slowly, his expression softened up. Reggie felt a sense of relief wash through him. It seemed that his dad was finally starting to understand that there were some holes in the story that needed to be filled up.

But exactly what those holes might be, and where they would take them, only time would tell.

His dad raised his hand up and began to rub the side of his head, his eyes darting left and right. "Y-You're right... The story, it doesn't make much sense..." His voice trailed off as he began to mumble softly to himself. At the end, Reggie could hear him say, "Did she lie?"

Reggie shook his head. "I don't think she would lie. That doesn't sound like her."

It would be easy to think that Rudy and Penny were trying to get back at him. This wouldn't surprise him too much. He did cross the line and he did hurt them badly. They did have every right to be mad at enough that they would seek to try to teach him a lesson. But at the same time, it didn't seem to be within their character. He hurt Rudy before and he didn't really try too much to get even with him. Especially not in such a blatant, dishonest way. That just wouldn't seem like them.

But Rudy and Penny not being responsible still yielded some equally uncomfortable results. If they hadn't lied about him, if this wasn't a scheme to get back at him, then what had really happened? He doubted that Mrs. Sanchez would lie about their injuries. So something must have happened. But what?

He wasn't aware of anyone else who would want to hurt Rudy or Penny. None of the other students appeared to take interest in them. Maybe some teasing, but nothing physical. He was the only student in the school that had even punched Rudy. And since he wasn't even present to hurt him or Penny this time around, then that could only mean one thing.

There was somebody else in town.

The nature of the attacks concerned him the most. Slashes... Reggie had never done anything like that to anyone. With anyone he beat up, he just used his fists, and occasionally his foot. He never used a knife on anyone, nor would he ever want to. That was just...no, he'd never do that.

But then...who...?

"This is serious." He could hear his dad say. He noticed how his dad's face appeared to be drained of color, horror etching deeply in his face. "I-If you weren't the one who... Then..." His voice trailed off, unable to finish.

Reggie gave a few nods. "I know. But..." He raised his shoulders up. "Who could have done that? Do those two have enemeis that we aren't aware of?"

His dad rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well there is a fellow I know that has a grudge against the Tabooties. That Marty fellow..."

"Marty the Steer King?" Reggie asked. At his father's nod, he said, "Why would he want to hurt them?"

"Because he's angry that they won that meat fair thing. You know, the one I attended while you said with your grandmother's."

Reggie shuddered. He didn't want to think about his visit with his grandmother's. His uncomfortableness with that faded away quickly as he let this information digest in his head. If what his dad said was true, then Marty would have a reason to try to get even. He had heard about this guy before and the big ego that he had. He didn't know for sure if he would really go far enough to hurt a child, but if he did, then...

"Come on, son. We need to head down to the station."

Reggie stared up at his dad in shock. "But...dad..I didn't..."

"I know you didn't." His dad cut him off. "We need to tell the police about what Marty potentially did. They will send out an investigation team and, if Marty is responsible, they will apprehend him."

Reggie thought about this for a moment. A question soon made itself known inside his head. He took a small step forward, staring at his dad in the eyes. "And...what if they don't match him up? What if it was someone else..?"

His dad was quiet. His eyes soon furrowed as they closed. His head lowered slightly. "Then...we will just have to hope that this guy gets caught before he hurts anyone else."

Reggie shuddered as he saw the look his father gave him. It was clear that his dad feared that he might be the next target. This made Reggie shiver in fear at the thought of this horrible man, or even woman, coming after him with a knife. What happened to Rudy and Penny was but a preview of what might happen to him.

He tried his best to look brave. He didn't want to give into his fear. He straightened himself up and managed to make himself stop shaking. He stared at his dad with a stern look, his hands forming into fists. Determination washed over his face. If there really was someone else out there, if he were to be the next target, well one thing was for sure: he was not going to give them an easy time. He was not going to be a pushover target.

Without saying another word, his dad turned his back to him and began to head towards the door. Reggie didn't need any prompting as he followed his dad close behind. After shutting the door and some walking, they were in the care. He could hear his dad turn the keys and shift the car, and soon they were on their way to the police station.

As they drove along the road, Reggie couldn't help but stare out of the window, watching as the scenery flew by. He couldn't stop thinking about what happened to Rudy and Penny, and Morty's possible connection to it. He bit his lip. Whatever happened, he hoped that, soon, it'll be resolved, and if Morty really was responsible, that he is stopped before someone else gets injured.

An uncomfortable thought entered his head. If Morty turned out to not be responsible, and if Rudy and Penny weren't lying to get back at him, then...

...then what else could have happened?

Could...could those kids' parents have a part in this?

He shook his head. No, they wouldn't do something like that. They were their parents. They loved them. They would never hurt them like that.

...would they..?

sss

Skrawl decided to go on a short walk on his own. He had little fear of any zoner trying to stop him. Especially not out in the open like this, with few zoners being available. His size was certainly an advantage. Most zoners were pretty small and he towered over many of them. This alone acted as a good deterrent. Not to mention he had sharp claws that could tear into them easily. Yeah, no one was going to interrupt his walk.

He moved along the grassy ground slowly, keeping his eyes forward, his frown etched on his face. He kept one arm folded behind his back while his remaining two limbs carried him along the ground slowly. He soon walked into a nearby forest, and he could feel the cool shade of the trees all around him. He ignored the sounds of the wild, zoner animals as he continued his walk, his mind deep in thought.

How was he going to find those swords? He did like Thoughtless's compliment, about him figuring out a way. But the truth was, he had no idea if he was going to succeed or not. This was going to be quite the challenge, and he really wasn't prepared. He needed some way to allow for them to find those blasted swords, but so far, he couldn't really think much of anything.

Especially with the heat signature idea... That was the only method that Thoughtless would provide. Its only hint at what he could do to find them. But... ChalkZone had lots of heat signatures all over the place. Even out here, in the middle of nowhere, there were plenty of zoners that would show up on a heat signature device and would mask up any attempt to find the swords. He would need for a way to make the swords stand out much more. But just how would he be able to pull that off?

Well, he was going to need to figure something out soon. He didn't want to stay out here that long, and he didn't want to delay finding those swords for much longer. As soon as he got his hands on them, he would be able to increase his power. Soon he would have enough power to take over ChalkZone on his own. A one man army, or in his case, a one jellybean army.

But first, he would need to get those swords...

How was he going to make them stand out more? How was he going to be able to use the heat seeking device and be able to bypass all the other heat signatures and focus on just the swords themselves? It would help if he knew what to look for. If he knew how Gravity and Dimension power heat would show up, he could look for that. But the others... He wasn't sure where to begin. Thoughtless admitted that its creator wasn't sure about the other powers, at least at the time of its erasing. As a result, he couldn't even begin to prepare for...

He stopped himself when he heard a loud screeching sound coming not too far away. He lifted up his head and looked left and right. He thought at first that it was just another wild animal. They were often pretty noisy. But when he heard the sound again, a little closer now, he could tell that it wasn't the same kind of sound he had grown accustomed to hearing around here.

He walked towards the sound, being careful to keep himself in the foliage, providing a buffer of sorts between him and whoever or whatever was coming this way. His red and blue eyes stared out ahead, moving slowly from one side to the other, trying to find any sign of what was making that noise. He didn't see anything, but he could see the other animals reacting. They must have heard it too, and judging from how they were moving away, whatever was coming, it was rather vicious.

Skrawl wondered if he could use this thing to his advantage. He wasn't sure yet what he could use it for. He didn't even know what it looked like or what it was capable of doing. But..just perhaps..it could help turn the tides and bring him one step closer to achieving domination over ChalkZone.

Soon, a long, golden body came into view. Skrawl widened his eyes at the sight of what appeared to be a snake-like zoner, equipped with four feet with two claws and a blade on its tail and long, sharp teeth. It wasn't like anything he had seen in ChalkZone before. He would remember seeing something like this. He guessed that this zoner was very new.

It was running about, thrashing and crashing against anything in sight. Its legs flailed around, scratching at its head, its mouth open, releasing more and more screeches. Blood appeared to be caked around its head, on its left eye. It didn't take Skrawl long realize that this thing was thrashing about in pain. It wasn't even realizing where it was; all it wanted to do was get away from the pain. Its violent thrashes must have been what was scaring away the other animals.

At first, Skrawl felt some level of disappointment. This creature was injured and probably wouldn't be of much use to him. Especially half blind, which he was most certain that it was. But then again... It did still have sharp claws, teeth, and tail. It might still have some usage left in it. If he were to just treat the eye perhaps, then he could...

He wasn't able to finish his thought when the golden snake thing came over in his direction. He let out a scream as he jumped to the side. He narrowly missed getting hit by those claws as the thing crashed behind him, its body wriggling around as it continued to screech painfully, blood continuing to seep down the left side of its long face. Skrawl whirled himself around and watched the beast with thoughtful, stern eyes as it became tangled in the vines, now unable to go anywhere.

Hmm, yes... This thing could come in use. It was pretty large in size and looked strong. Those natural weapons it possessed definitely made it quite dangerous. Depending on how smart this thing was, if he did something to help it, perhaps it would feel like it owed him and help him out with his current mission. Even if that doesn't become the case, he didn't have much doubt that Thoughtless might be able to do something. Even if its thing was just an animal, Thoughtless could still get inside its mind and alter its memories until it became loyal to them. Such a thing would be easy on a dumb animal like this.

His mouth curling into a smile, he reached down into his leather waist pocket that he brought with and he brought out his small walkie talkie, similar to what he used to communicate with Craniac 4, except without a screen. He pressed the large, red button on it and he immediately hurt a bit of static and radio-like sounds. He could soon hear the familiar sound of one of his Beanie Boys picking it up.

"Yes, boss?"

"Tell Thoughtless I want it to meet me somewhere. I think I found something that may help us." Skrawl gave a small chuckle as he stared down at the trapped snake-like zoner.

"Sure thing. Where should I tell it to go?"

Skrawl lifted his head up towards the sky. "Tell it to meet me at these coordinates."

sss

"All right now, Beanie Boys! Listen up!" Snap paced back and forth as he stared at the four Beanie Boys with narrowed eyes and gritted teeth. "You are going to follow this drill exactly how I had told you. Any questions?"

One Beanie Boy raised his hand. "What makes you think that we are going to do it?"

"Yeah." Another Beanie Boy said. He folded his arms against his chest. "We listen to Skrawl, not you."

Snap chuckled, a smile spreading across his face. "Well he is the one who put me second in command. You either listen to moi..." He placed a hand against his chest. "Or you can just wait until Skrawl gets back and you can explain to him why you weren't listening to one of your superiors..."

Snap's words were enough to get through to the Beanie Boys. They immediately huddled closer and they raised their hands, placing them against their heads in salute.

"Sir, yes, sir!" They cried out in unison.

Snap smiled at this, a sense of twisted satisfaction moving through him. For the first time, he felt in power. Strong, invincible. He had a whole army of Beanie Boys at his command. Not just these four. All the Beanie Boys had to listen to him. He was their superior, ranking higher than them. They all knew what would happen to them if they didn't listen. Skrawl would take care of them, and he knew these Beanie Boys would rather face him than go up to their boss when he was really angry.

He watched as the Beanie Boys took off, going through the obstance course that he had just designed. A rather strange, unorthodox one, but he still believed that it would be useful. Plus, he had to make sure that these Beanie Boys were in good shape when it came time to deal with Rudy and Penny. Being able to dodge quickly, dive quickly, change course quickly, all that was going to be really important.

But despite the difficulty and challenge this was going to bring, especially considering the girth of these zoners, which makes him wonder how they could even fly, he was still certain that, with the proper training, they could go up against Rudy and Penny if need be. They were going to need to restrain them somehow, for whenever they manage to trap them. By training them to be prepared, even if those two manage to have magic chalk by then, the Beanie Boys would be able to outmanuever them and get the chalk away from them before they could draw anything too dangerous.

He stood there, his arms crossed, leaning against the wall, his foot moving back and forth in a constant motion. He watched as the Beanie Boys ran through the course that he designed. He smiled as he watched them flail, fall, get back up, and try again. He couldn't help but think of the set of traps he had made for Biclops for when Rudy and Penny tried to steal more magic chalk. He felt a strong sense of pride fill up inside of his chest.

He couldn't wait until he could finally get his revenge on those two. He was doing his best to be patient. So far, he was doing pretty well. But as time continued to pass, he couldn't help but feel some sense of impatience move through him. He knew he couldn't take action now, but how long was he going to have to wait before he could finally make his move?

He had been wronged by those two. He had been hurt by them. Betrayed and experimented on. They had competely shattered his trust. Now when was it going to be his time to break them? He hoped soon. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out.

ooo But did they really do anything to deserve this? ooo

Snap let out a soft hiss as he heard that pesky voice return. Didn't he banish that voice out of his head already? What was it doing back? He clenched his teeth tightly, doing his best to fight against it. He could feel a dull ache spreading through his head. He tried to ignore it. He knew full well that Rudy and Penny were guilty. He wasn't going to allow his mind to fill him with doubts like this.

ooo Some of the memories don't match up. How could I be certain that what I was told was the truth? ooo

He shook his head, trying to get that thought out of his head. He felt his hand move towards his head and he gripped it. He rubbed it back and forth as he struggled to regain himself. He lifted up his head and he looked over at where the Beanie Boys were. He was glad they didn't see him in his moment of weakness. He felt a sense of shame wash over him. He shook his head a second time and tried to regain his composure.

He wasn't sure what was going on or why he was having these thoughts. But he knew he needed to keep it under control. If he allowed himself to go insane, then he could inadvertantly contribute to Rudy and Penny getting away. Then their reign of terror could continue and more zoners could get hurt. He shuddered at the thought of that. He could not allow that to happen. He had to keep himself from falling into doubt.

He straightened himself up, closing his jaw tightly, feeling his teeth grinding together. He narrowed his eyes, his hands clutched tightly into fists. He kept his eyes glued on the Beanie Boys, keeping his mind focused on them, and only them. As they began to approach the finish line, he couldn't help but smile. A single thought rushed through his head.

Rudy and Penny had best prepare themselves. Because soon, their mistakes were going to come back to haunt them.

sss

Thoughtless watched the training with Snap and the Beanie Boys from a distance. It switched its tail from one side to the other, its brown eyes gleaming. The Beanie Boys hadn't taken notice of the blue clad zoner's face, but it did. It narrowed its eyes slowly.

This could be a problem later on. If Snap was starting to see through the memories it had implanted and altered, then it would only be a matter of time before Snap breaks down, and then, eventually, turns against them. For now, the zoner appeared determined to fight against these doubts. A positive thing, but how long was it going to last? If this keeps up, it may need to step in and provide some assistance to Snap.

For now, it wasn't going to do anything. Snap didn't seem like he was going to become a threat to them anytime soon. The anger associated with the false memories it had given him were enough to provide some stalling for now. Snap was more determined to get revenge on Rudy and Penny than trying to figure out the validity of the memories given to him.

As Thoughtless watched, it allowed its mind to start thinking of other things. He thought back to Skrawl. It remembered how he had come for information regarding the swords. It wasn't sure what else it could tell him about that to keep him satisfied. It had already told him anything it could think of. Although it did manage to keep him satisfied, it didn't know how long this was going to last before he came back to try again.

But at least for now, Skrawl appeared to be satisfied. It wasn't going to have to worry about him coming back to try to get more information, or even questioning its methods. Skrawl hadn't done that yet, which was a relief. So long as Skrawl continued to believe in its methods, then everything was going to be fine. It didn't want to think of what might happen should Skrawl start to question it too much.

Even though it did not ever say it outright or try to admit it, the memotrice knew it still needed Skrawl. It couldn't allow Skrawl to leave it or try to turn against it somehow. It knew it was being a little paranoid, but it had good reason to be like this. It had its own plans for what it wanted to do, and it didn't know how Skrawl was going to react to it. It had kept this part a secret and just went along with what the jellybean had suggested thus far. For its own plan to work, it was going to need Skrawl's help. Keeping Skrawl on its side was a top priority, even over keeping Snap with them.

Its own thoughts were interrupted when it heard someone coming in from behind it. It turned its head around and it could see a Beanie Boy coming in its direction. There was a look of urgency on its face.

(Yes? What is it?)

"Skrawl wants you to meet him here." The Beanie Boy said as he held out a piece of paper to the memotrice. "He would like you to come as soon as possible."

Thoughtless grabbed the paper with its foot talons. It held it up and leaned its head in, reading the paper that it clutched in its toe claws. (And why does he want me to come here?)

The Beanie Boy immediately replied with, "He found something that might be able to help us."

sss

Skrawl was pleased when Thoughtless had arrived quicker than he had expected. He raised up his hand and shielded his eyes from the bright sun as he watched the Beanie Boys carry the memotrice down towards him. He was momentarily confused and wondered why the memotrice didn't just use its flight until he remembered that Thoughtless was flightless.

As soon as Thoughtless was on the ground, it made its way over towards him slowly. Its small head and long neck moved in a rapid, bird-like way as it stared down at the tangled zoner behind him. Curiosity filled the memotrice's eyes, its pupils focused on that snake-like zoner that Skrawl had captured. Or rather, the creature that ended up capturing itself, since Skrawl played little part in that.

He remained silent as the memotrice got closer. He took a few steps back and allowed the memotrice to get a closer look at the zoner. He watched as Thoughtless stood a few feet away from it, looking at it up and down. Thoughtless then began to pace back and forth in front of the zoner, trailing its eyes over the zoner's body a little. Its eyes slowly blinked a few times before it turned its attention to Skrawl.

(How did you find it?) It asked.

Skrawl shrugged his shoulders. "I wasn't even trying to look for it. I was just walking through here to think about, you know, those swords..." His voice trailed off for a moment as he thought about those swords. He gritted his teeth a little, frustrated he still hadn't figured out a way to find them. He shook the thought out of his head and he said, "Well anyway, I was taking a walk and all of a sudden, I see this...this thing running about, screeching like it was in pain."

(That is because it is in pain.) Thoughtless pointed a toe claw over at where the snake's left eye was. (See the burns?)

"Well I know that! I mean..." Skrawl growled in frustration, rubbing his hand against his face. "Let's just move on, shall we?" He lifted his head and stared back at the memotrice. "I was wondering if you think that this thing could come in handy for something?" He took a few steps closer. "Perhaps it could help us out with those words you mentioned." He raised his hand up in gesture. "Or perhaps it could help us with Rudy and Penny?"

At this, the snake zoner appeared to respond. It let out a few smaller screeches as it struggled to get itself free. Skrawl and Thoughtless stared down at the zoner while it did this. They glanced at each other, each one expression the same thought.

(I think...we can...) Thoughtless gave a small smile as it began to pace around the snake-like zoner slowly. Its brown eyes moved all around as it visually examined the zoner. (It doesn't seem badly hurt, except for that eye. I think if it were treated, we might be able to get some use out of it.) A pause as Thoughtless went around to one side. (...her.)

Skrawl raised an eyebrow. "It's a female?"

Thoughtless nodded its head once. It didn't dwell on that topic for long and it added, (I am going to need to assess her first. See if we can use her.) Thoughtless turned its head over so it could stare over in Skrawl's direction. (I would like to seek into her mind, if that isn't a problem for you. I need to assess why she reacted poorly to the mention of those kids. I have a feeling we can use this to our advantage."

"Go right ahead." Skrawl said, motioning a hand in its direction. "Be my guest."

Skrawl stood there for the next several minutes, his arm folded and silent. He watched as Thoughtless placed its foot against the head of the snake zoner, its eyes starting to glow. Skrawl wasn't sure just how long such a method would take, with or without altering memories. He noticed how the zoner was squirming a little, causing Skrawl to place a hand against his head. It looked so uncomfortable. He couldn't imagine that would happen if he ended up on the receiving end.

Despite the uncomfortable imagery, he still felt a sense of excitement rise up inside of him. After this was taken care of, they may have information that they need, and a new ally, to help go against Rudy and Penny. The thought of it delighted him. With Thoughtless's powers, that zoner's fear of those two, whatever that may be, could be increased, and the memotrice could ensure the thing's loyalty to them. They could make use out of this zoner.

After a while of just standing there, Thoughtless finally stepped away from the zoner. It moved back a few steps before turning its head in his direction. Its tail swished slowly from side to side as it stared at Skrawl for a few moments. (Her name is Cornerstone. And she was created by Rudy Tabootie recently.)

Skrawl stared down at the creature. "Master Tabootie...made this?"

Thoughtless nodded its head. (Indeed.)

Skrawl had a hard time believing that. This thing didn't look anything like he imagined that boy would create. Rudy was such a goody two-shoes. Anything he drew would be to help people with. What purpose did he have with drawing this? Cornerstone did not look friendly or cuddly and she was equipped with dangerous, sharp natural weapons. She looked like she was ready to tear someone apart. Hardly something he could see Rudy doing.

Another thing that confused him, now that he thought of it, why was Cornerstone afraid of Rudy? If he was her creator, wouldn't she know that he wouldn't harm her? Zoners typically had some inkling of what their creators were like. He was the only exception as he technically had many. But Cornerstone only had one creator far as he could tell. If that is the case, then she should know that...

His thoughts trailed off as a realization started to make itself known. He was aware that a creator could give any kind of mindset to whatever zoner they wanted, and how much power they have when it comes to creating something. The impossible would become possible with just a few strokes of the chalk. Could it be possible that...? He clenched his teeth tightly.

"That sneaky little brat...!" Skrawl hissed as he clutched his fists together, straightening them towards the ground. "This zoner is a trap!"

Thoughtless whipped its head over and stared at him. (You think so?)

Skrawl glared down at Cornerstone, curling his lip up into a snarl. "It's so obvious! Rudy must have gotten her to think that she was abused so that she would hate him and... Oh I bet they were hoping that she would lead them to our hideout or something!" He seethed, clenching his teeth.

Thoughtless stared at him for a few seconds before glancing down at Cornerstone. It lifted up a foot and began to scratch the side of its head. (Hmm... You don't say...)

Skrawl growled, "Well I'm not going to let them! Step aside. I'm going to take care of this problem before it gets out of hand..."

Skrawl moved towards the snake-like zoner. She was still trapped in the vines. Good. That would make the next task fairly easy, or so he hoped. He just needed to get a good shot at the neck, which was partially exposed. Slice through a thick blood vessel and voi la. The problem would be taken care of.

But when he got a little closer, he noticed the memotrice stepping into his path. This was not something he had expected. He stared down at the zoner, blinking a few times. He then tried moving over to another side, only to have the memotrice move again, keeping position in front of his path. Skrawl growled softly at this, growing more and more frustrated as the memotrice kept getting in his way.

"Step aside!" Skrawl barked. "You might be one of the most feared zoners around here..." He pointed a long, sharp claw in the memotrice's direction. "But you are still one of my underlings! You will do as I say!"

But still Thoughtless didn't move. It remained here, staring at him with an unblinking expression. Skrawl soon lowered his head, his eyes widening a little. But soon anger took him over and he let out a low, rumbling growl. What was Thoughtless thinking it was doing?

(Pardon me, but I don't think you see the potential here.) Thoughtless said as it placed a foot against the snake zoner. (We shouldn't throw away this opportunity.)

"Opportunity for what?" Skrawl raised his hands up into the air. "For Rudy and Penny to track us down?!"

Thoughtless was quiet for a few moments and then it gave its answer. (Precisely.)

Skrawl widened his eyes and his mouth dropped open in shock. Just...what was Thoughtless thinking? Where was he going with this? "Pardon...?"

Thoughtless gave a small, squawking chuckle. (If they wish to be led by this thing... I know how we can help...)

Skrawl blinked a few times. And then, slowly, Thoughtless's words finally got through to him. Unable to stop himself, his mouth began to tick upwards into a broad, dark smile. He was liking where this was going. He took a few steps closer, his eyes focused on this clever beast. "Tell me more."

sss

The man watched in horror as the two policemen grabbed onto his son's arms. They didn't hold him too tightly nor did they try to drag him off anywhere. But the sight of it was still uncomfortable, especially considering what this was going to lead up to. He turned back to the head officer with a pleading expression.

"Please...there has to be some other way. This...this can't..." He attempted to plead.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bullnerd. But we just got a call recently from Mrs. Tabootie. She is certain that your son was responsible for what happened." The officer said. His voice was sympathetic, though his expression a little hard. "We just want to detain your son for questioning. That is all."

Mr. Bullnerd wasn't about to give up. He looked at his son, noting his pleading expression, then he looked back at the officers. "Please.. Officer O'Larry... You have to listen to me. My son is innocent! There's a madman going around..."

Officer O'Larry raised his hand up to stop him. "I understand how you must feel, Mr. Bullnerd. I don't like this anymore than you. But..." He adjusted his pants, keeping his hands on his hips, as he looked over at where Reggie was. The child, large for his size, was staring at him with wide eyes. "...if your son is innocent, then we will have a good idea for sure after the questioning. We will not arrest him if that's what you're worried about." The pudgy man stared back at Mr. Bullnerd. "Just let us do our jobs and this will go over a lot more smoothly."

Mr. Bullnerd wasn't sure what to do. It would be easy for him to just give into the police officer's commands and let his son be interrogated. It might be the smoothest road, and if Reggie really was innocent, he was certain that he could prove it during the questioning. Officer O'Larry did know his son pretty well, after all, and he would know what answers make sense and what don't.

But...

There was still a chance that it won't work. Still a chance that his son could end up in big trouble. Still a chance that it was all going to go downhill.

It all depended on what Reggie ended up saying, and how the other officers took this. He recognized one of the officers as..what was his name... Keb? Whoever was the one that found Rudy and Penny. He had met his guy before and he knows how strict he is. He might drill Reggie so much that he ends up saying something that was either not true or worded in such a way that would guarantee him being suspected as guilty. Then the whole process would become much more complicated than it needed to be.

He had a strong urgency to just grab his son and flee, and then speak to those children's parents. He wanted to talk to them directly and try to get them to understand that Reggie couldn't have been involved with this. But such an action would only get him in trouble. There was punishment to be dealt to those who tried to flee from the law.

He did have one idea. He didn't know if it would work, though. It might create problems. It could interfere with the questioning in some way. He didn't know if he should try to do it.

But maybe if he alternated it a little... Then maybe he could...

Yes, it might work.

Mr. Bullnerd took a few steps closer to Officer O'Larry. "Can I ask you something?"

"We're wasting time, Mr. Bullnerd..." Officer O'Larry started to say.

"Yeah I know. But it won't be long. I promise." Mr. Bullnerd told him. "Please... I have something I really need to ask you."

Officer O'Larry sighed. "Well all right. I don't normally do this, but...okay."

"Can we step away from the others for a moment?"

The two men walked away from where Reggie was being held. They didn't stop until they were on the other side of the long room. Mr. Bullnerd didn't want the others hearing this. He regarded it as a potentially controversial question, and he would feel most comfortable if he only spoke to Officer O'Larry about it. Perhaps he would understand.

"Is it all right if I come in?" Mr. Bullnerd asked.

Officer O'Larry looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You know you're not allowed... I'm not sure how other police stations do it, but you know our rule. A friend or parent can't be allowed in or else it might interrupted the interrogation. It might make the interrogated feel comfortable enough to think of suitable lies and..."

"Yes, I know. But..I'd feel better if I could come in. I'm not sure about how you run everything here, but... can you at least think of something?" Mr. Bullnerd looked towards the ground, biting his lip nervously. "I care about my son. I just...want to make sure that he will be all right. I don't feel comfortable leaving him alone here..." He lifted up his head and stared in his direction. "Please...just..let me come. Please."

Officer O'Larry narrowed his eyes and folded his arms. "Well, I don't like doing this, but I suppose you can come." Mr. Bullnerd smiled at this. Before he could say a word, Officer O'Larry pointed a finger in his direction. "But...you need to stay in the backroom with me. We are going to watch from behind a one-way mirror. You are to remain quiet and not say a word during the entire thing. Even when my boys get a little rough, you cannot interfere." He leaned his head towards the man. "Do I make myself clear?"

Mr. Bullnerd stared at him for a few moments, and then, slowly, he nodded his head. "Yes. I understand."

"Good." Officer O'Larry turned around and headed towards the other police officers. "All right, boys!" He gestured with his head. "Bring him to the back!"

"Dad...!" Reggie cried as he was being forcibly guided down one of the hallways.

Mr. Bullnerd gave his son a reassuring smile. "It will be okay, son. I promise."

Soon, Reggie and the two police officers disappeared down the hallway. Mr. Bullnerd turned his attention to Officer O'Larry. He watched as the man wordlessly began to go down the same hallway. He looked over his shoulder and motioned with his hand for him to follow. Mr. Bullnerd did so, and he kept following the man as he led them towards the room had described before. It didn't take them too long before they made a turn and they entered a small room.

Mr. Bullnerd made himself comfortable on the chair provided for him. Officer O'Larry took the other remaining one after he shut the door. They looked over at the long mirror which allowed them to see into a small, white room where Reggie was being guided into. He was made to sit down in one of the chairs as the two men took position on a couple chairs in front of him.

Then the interrogation began.

sss

"But mom.. I swear, he didn't do anything to us." Rudy told his mother. "I just fell out of a tree and..."

"Don't try to lie to me, Rudy." Mrs. Tabootie glared down at her son. "I know you are scared. You can admit to that. But please, don't lie."

"But I'm not...! I..."

"Now, now son." Mr. Tabootie placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Everything is all right now. Don't worry about Reggie. He won't hurt you again. I promise that."

"He didn't do anything!"

Mrs. Tabootie couldn't help but let out a soft sigh. She didn't know why her son kept lying about what happened. She didn't know why he kept trying to convince them that he fell out of a tree. She and her husband both knew better, as did Mrs. Sanchez. Rudy didn't have to worry about Reggie coming back for him. That little brat had been apprehended and was going to get what he deserved.

But even with this reassurance, Rudy still continued to lie. He was trying to convince her and the others that they merely 'fell out of a tree'. Such a thing was nonsense, as Mrs. Sanchez had explained over the phone. The details just don't add up. Especially Rudy's side wound. A couple of punctures that couldn't have been formed from falling out of a tree. They were consistant with bite marks, she noted, and it was possible that Reggie decided to bite Rudy. After all, he did make those two children bite him and Penny.

Well she was certain that it was probably just the result of Rudy still thinking that he was in some sort of danger. He needed a little time to recover from what happened. That is understandable, after what he had been through. She decided not to further argue with him and just continue to offer her condolences. Over time, Rudy would come to realize what happened and he would be grateful for what she and the others did for him.

Mrs. Tabootie wrapped her arms around Rudy and pulled him close. "Everything is going to be okay... You'll see..."

As she held onto her confused and shaken son, she glanced over at her husband, locking eyes with him. The two of them both shared a silent message with one another. Neither of them had ever thought something like this would happen, but they would be determined to make sure that it didn't happen again. There was no way Reggie would ever be able to get to their son again.

They would make sure of that.

sss

When Rudy was finally able to see Penny, he immediately told her what had taken place. The look in her eyes was exactly what he had expected her to give. Well not exactly; she looked even more shocked than he had predicted.

He rested on her bad, his legs crossed. He had his head pointed downwards, his mind going a million miles per hour. He had a hard time lifting up his head to look at Penny. He was in such a state of shock that he found it difficult to move at all. His mind kept replaying what happened over and over as he struggled to make sense of it all. He couldn't help but continuously ask himself various questions. The most notable ones that he kept repeating over and over again were questions about how and why this had happened.

This isn't what he wanted. He never wanted to get Reggie in trouble. He never wanted to see him get sent to the police station, especially for something he didn't do. He couldn't believe that his own mother didn't believe him when he tried to tell her that Reggie wasn't responsible. She just took at as him being too afraid to speak the truth. He clenched his teeth tightly. Just how was he going to be able to convince her, convince anyone, that Reggie was actually innocent?

"I never thought I would ever say this, but..poor Reggie..." Penny whispered softly. "He didn't do anything wrong this time, and he still gets punished."

Rudy flinched at this. "Well it wouldn't be the only time."

Painful memories began to resurface in his head as he recalled a few times in the past where Reggie was punished for something he didn't do. Pulling out Mr. Wilter's chair, the dumpster situation, that 'rude drawing' from a couple years ago.. These were some examples of times when Reggie really didn't do anything and he still got punished for it. And what did he do? What course of action did he take?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He had allowed for the punishment to take place simply because of karma. He enjoyed seeing Reggie getting punishment because it always felt good when bullies got what they deserved.

But he couldn't feel any such happiness this time around. He couldn't look at this situation and feel Reggie deserved it. This wasn't the same as a detention or getting yelled at by Mr. Wilter. No, this was much worse. He was getting involved with the police. There was no way he could ever feel happy about this.

"We have to do something." That was Rudy's only statement.

Penny let out a soft hiss at this. "What do you propose we do? March down there and try to get him out? You know that won't work."

"Yeah, I know." Rudy managed to turn his head enough to stare over at Penny. "But we have to do something, don't we?"

"Right now, there isn't much we can do. Our parents what us to stay away from Reggie because they think he will hurt us again somehow." Penny narrowed her eyes, looking a little annoyed. Most likely because of her mother's unwillingness to believe their story of falling out of the tree, and jumping to conclusions about what happened. "Besides, we have something a little more urgent to take care of first."

Neither of them liked the idea of ranking someone above another as more important. It made them feel too judgmental. But in this case, they both knew that this was correct. Trying to help ChalkZone was presently a higher priority. There were many people in danger in that world. They couldn't just abandon them for the sake of helping one person, even if the idea of leaving said person made them feel awful. They had to first take care of ChalkZone. They could try to clear things up with Reggie later.

They hadn't been out of ChalkZone for very long, but aready it felt like many days. During their time out, they couldn't help but keep thinking about the zoners and what might be happening to them. That golden beast that Rudy had drawn.. she was still there. She was still roaming around, doing who knows what. She was not created with any good purpose. The only thing she'd know how to do is attack.

Rudy felt a bitter taste in his mouth at the memory of Cornerstone. He could just imagine her chasing down a few zoners and shaking him in her mouth. She could see her tear apart any zoner that dare get in her path. And itw as all because of him. Why did he have to create such a dangerous zoner? This was a huge mistake.

Well it was too late now. The zoner had been created and he was going to have to live with the consequences of that. At least she couldn't take so hopefully she wouldn't be able to spread the word that she was his creation. He wasn't sure how he could explain this to the other zoners, and he knew full well that if Biclops, in his state, found out, then he would be even harder to convinced that he was a good guy. But him being exposed as Cornerstone's creator wasn't the most urgent thing on his mind at the moment.

What was she going to do if Skrawl gains control over her? What was he and the memotrice going to do? What lives were they going to alter and ruin? What happened to Snap? Is he alive and if he is, what is Skrawl doing to him right now?

Rudy could feel his heart clench at the multiple thoughts. He could feel his fingers tingling as he felt the urge to just rush back into ChalkZone, find that evil jellybean, and rescue his friend. But he forced himself to hold still, in spite of a few slight quivers. He couldn't do something so risky. He might make things worse.

He turned his head towards Penny. She had been thinking this whole time. He could tell from her expression alone. Perhaps... perhaps she had thought of something? He hoped that she did. She was the smart one of the group. He hoped that she figured out a course of action that they could take. Surely she had thought of something that he didn't think of or...

"I know what you are thinking. And my answer is I'm not entirely sure." Penny said to him, her eyes filled with sympathy and worry. "We hadn't been in a situation like this before." She paused for a few moments, clenching her teeth. "It is tough to figure out where to begin first."

Rudy felt a little disappointed. But he couldn't be too mad or upset with Penny. It was true. This was not a situation either of them were used to. It was not going to be easy figuring out how they were going to get out of this. "We could always split up. I go after Skrawl and you go after Cornerstone." He stopped himself before he continued. "But...that might be what he wants. That leaves the memotrice more open to attack us and..."

"I agree. Normally I'd agree on this, but with that memotrice running around, it is best we stick together." Penny rubbed her chin thoughtfully. After a few moments, she said, "Well we could start by trying to stop Cornerstone. We have to keep her from getting in the clutches of Skrawl and that memotrice."

Rudy straightened himself up on the bed. "Yeah... And she does have that tracker in her. We could just draw another machine and we could find her and trap her." He paused, and held up his hand in gesture. "But..where could we take her? That one jail was..."

"We'll think of something I'm sure." Penny cut him off. "Right now, we have to stop her before she hurts anyone else."

Rudy nodded in agreement, narrowing his eyes. "All right then, let's get going."

sss

Rather than going all the way to Rapsheeba's new place just to fix the machine already drawn, Penny decided it was best that they just create a whole new one. That would save time in trying to find that snake zoner. All they had to worry about was finding a suitable spot to create the machine.

One of Snap's old homes wasn't exactly what she had in mind. But it would do. That small zoner was always moving about in ChalkZone, always living somewhere else different. She doubted he would mind too much if they used this track down a dangerous zoner. Yeah, he would understand if they explain the situation to him.

If they get a chance to, that is.

She tried her best not to dwell on the uncomfortable fact that she and Rudy had really no way of knowing if Snap was safe or not. She was still leaning towards him being okay, but there was always that chance that something had happened. Knowing Snap, he might have said something to Skrawl that made him angry and... She tried not not to think about it. Just like Rudy had mentioned before, until they found evidence confirming it, she wouldn't give up hope that Snap was okay.

She and Rudy worked together to create the new machine. This one was smaller and more compact; it had to be in order to preserve their chalk. Even despite this, with the controls needed for it to work and the screen size needed to use it affectively, they still ended up using quite a bit of their chalk. They both had only one piece left after this. It used to be more, but since Rudy split it up, it cut it down by half for both of them. Once the machine was finished, she and Rudy placed what remained of their chalk in their pockets and looked up at the machine.

It was roughly half the size of the previous machine, standing only about as tall as they were. It had fewer buttons, being more efficient and compact than the last one. It still worked well enough for them to track down the zoner. The screen was certainly large enough to show them as much detail as possible. It was even upgraded to show more than just lines. This had been Rudy's suggestion, enabling them to be able to figure out more about where the zoner was and figure out a path to get to her as quickly as possible.

Penny hoped that this would work. A part of her wondered if it would even connect to Cornerstone, or if the tracker would even still be in her. She was a smart zoner. She might have figured out about the tracker and clawed it out of her body, regardless of how much pain that would have come with. But there was only one way to be certain. She and Rudy exchanged looks before they looked down at the machine. It was now or never. Penny watched as Rudy leaned forward. He grabbed the lever and pulled. Then they waited.

The screen blipped to life. The cool, blue glow spread across the dimly lit room. They leaned their heads back and watched as images began to pop up on the screen. Contour lines, but in addition, some color and some basic shapes. It wasn't anything too spectacular. More like something from an old gaming system. But it was still good enough that they could get an idea of what areas of ChalkZone were being represented.

And there, blinking around one of the corners, was a red dot.

Cornerstone.

The sight of this was enough to make them give small smiles. It worked. Their efforts in getting the machine running and locating Cornerstone had worked. They took this moment to smile at one another, giving each other a silent, gratified message. But these smiles soon faded as they turned back to the screen. That was just one part of the problem. They now had the task to figure out the next step.

Rudy took a step closer and looked at the machine. His eyes moved left and right as he took in its details. He reached over with his hand and touched the screen lightly, trailing his fingers downward as his face contorted with determination and thoughtfulness. After a few moments, he turned back to Penny.

"It looks like Cornerstone is deep in the Noodle Forest." Upon seeing Penny's expression, he added, "It's one of those very new locations. Snap told me about it, but we hadn't yet gotten to visit it." The mention of Snap caused him to look towards the ground with a somewhat depressed look. He shook it off and said, "It shouldn't take us too long to get there. We should leave now before she decides to move."

Penny looked over at the screen at this. She did notice how the creature wasn't moving. She was just...remaining so still. It seemed quite odd. She recalled how Cornerstone had wriggled and squirmed all around. She had been in so much pain. It was unlikely that she was completely fine at this point. Not with what she had done to her. She fought off the feelings of guilt as she tried to think of why she wasn't moving. There had to be some sort of explanation. But what could that be?

She would have to think about it while she and Rudy walked there. She often did her best thinking while she was moving, and she knew Rudy was the same way. From the look in his eyes, she could tell that he, too, was questioning why Cornerstone was remaining perfectly still. Something about it just seemed..off. But they couldn't waste anymore time on the offchance she does move. They could think of what could be going on on the way there, and prepare accordingly.

"Let's get there quickly." Penny began to walk towards Rudy. "Before she has a chance to get away." The two children nodded to each other, and, without another word, they took off.

The journey there was thankfully not interrupted too much. There was the occasional zoner that asked them questions, but for the most part, she and Rudy were left alone. A part of her was worried that this might be due to some lies being spread about them. She tried to relax herself. She shouldn't get too worked up over this. The zoners were just giving them some space so they could get to their destination faster. They could tell that they were quite busy. Zoners usually knew when to stay out of the way.

As they walked, Penny could feel her mind clearing up a little, allowing her to think better. With the time that they had between here and that Noodle Forest that he mentioned, she took the time to try to think of why Cornerstone wasn't moving.

Her first thought was that maybe she was hurt worse than it looked. Perhaps she had gone into shock and collapsed. Or maybe she ran into something dangerous and hurt herself more. The thought of it made her heart twist. She never had wanted to cause her that much pain. She just wanted to get her to stop hurting her friend. It wasn't her fault that she was created this way. But she also couldn't blame Rudy either; he didn't know what else they could do try to stop Skrawl.

There was still the less terrifying conclusion that maybe she was just sleeping. She could have gotten tired from all that running around and decided to get to some sleep. She might have went into the Noodle Forest because she thought no one was going to find her there. If that's the case, she and Rudy would need to be as quiet as they could so they could get over there without waking her up. She didn't know how well they'd fair if Cornerstone managed to get the jump on them.

There was a third option that came to her head. It was rather uncomfortable for her to think about or even consider. Yet she couldn't help it. Cornerstone was an intelligent zoner that could make plans. That was a deliberate part of her design. She might be baiting them. Luring them into a location so that she could attack them when they least expected it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get that possibility out of her head or think of anything to reassure herself. The only things he and Rudy could do in that case was keep their guard up to reduce the chances of Cornerstone surprising them.

Up in the distance, she began to see what she believed were the first details of the Noodle Forest. Tall trees with long, noodle-like leaves could be seen. The closer they got, the more of this they could see. The way the branches were bending over made them look kind of like weeping willow trees. And there was more than one type. Some had egg noddles, others ritoni, some macaroni, some shells, and there were different colors. Pale yellow was the most common, but there were also browns, reds, and greens.

As they continued to get closer, more details were revealed. She could see that this forest was quite hilly. More so than any other she recalled being in. In fact, there was few large flat lands that could be seen. Maybe one open field, but other than that, the ground itself rolled up and down, the trees sticking out at the sides, not just straight up. Its very appearance almost defied what she would see in the Real World. Even the lake that she could see from here looked off. A deep red color. The color of sauce. Considering this forest's nature, this made sense.

She and Rudy soon entered the forest. Going up and down the hills was tricky, especially in areas where there was a sudden drop off. They soon got the hang of it, however, and, taking care to keep themselves balanced, they moved up and down the hills, entering deeper into the Noodle Forest.

Penny turned her head left and right as she and Rudy walked through the forest. It was pretty quiet here. She guessed that due to it being so new, not many animal zoners had come to claim this place yet. A part of her was relieved. That meant they had fewer zoners to worry about. It also meant fewer distractions; it would be much easier hearing Cornerstone in a place like this. Though a small part of her couldn't help but be worried. She hoped that this wasn't implying that something was wrong here.

She paused when she came across a small, red creak. The sight of it horrified her at first, thinking that it was blood. She soon relaxed when she realized that it was just the blood red water this forest had. She quietly wished whoever drew this place had picked a different color. Like the normal blue or something.

After a few minutes of walking, they soon came to a small clearing. One of the only ones this place had. It corresponded with what was marked on the map. She looked over at Rudy, giving him a soft glare to indicate that they should approache with caution. He nodded his head and, hunching their backs a little, they proceeded out into the open.

There didn't seem to be anything here. It was just a small patch of ground. A small field with not much on it aside from grass and the occasional yellow flower. It did seem rather strange that there was nothing here. But they weren't deterred and soon determined the reason why there didn't appear to be anything was because Cornerstone must be underneath. She likely dug a hole somewhere and was hiding just beneath the surface. Odd that the map didn't pick this up, but it wasn't that advanced really.

"If she's underneath her, I don't think digging down will work." Rudy noted as he looked down at the spot where Cornerstone's signal was coming from. "We might startle her and, even if she doesn't attack us, she can use that hole to get out away."

Penny nodded. "Good point. We may need to go around. Dig underneath her. One of us goes down that way while the other stays up here. That way, she has no where to go."

Rudy narrowed his eyes softly. "Well nowhere except to one of the sides."

Penny didn't think of that. She folded her arms against her chest and tried to think. What would be a good way to ensure that Cornerstone only went in one of two directions? What could stop her from going off to the sides? There was one thing she thought of, but it would be rather risky. "We could try to form a sort of cage around her. Something hard that she can't bite through." She wasn't surprised by Rudy's response.

"I'm not so sure about that, Penny. That may just get her attention faster." Rudy let out a sigh. He looked back at the ground. "I think we're just better off going with the initial idea and hope for the best."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Penny had to admit that Rudy made another good point. They had to at least give this a try. If they did it correctly, they may very well succeed and avoid the need for more complicated plans.

With nothing more than a nod to each other, the two children approached the spot more closely. They kept their eyes glued to it, watching for any sign of movement. They looked all around, making sure that Cornerstone wasn't making her move already. They took position on different sides, reducing the chances of the snake zoner getting away. They lifted up their pieces of magic chalk, preparing for a potential fight.

When they got to the middle, they still couldn't hear or feel anything. No sign of Cornerstone anywhere. It was really confusing. They would have thought that she'd hear them by now. Either she was a deep sleeper, she didn't care, or she was waiting to make her move. The two children tensed their bodies up as they realized that Cornerstone might attack them at any moment. Slowly, they came in closer, not daring to take their eyes away from the ground. They gritted their teeth tightly, clutching the piece of chalk in their hands. Soon they made it to their assigned positions on either side. With a nod to each other, they looked down, preparing to draw shovels to initate the next part of the plan.

As soon as the chalk was lifted up, they heard a snap down below them. The ground gave a slight rumble. They looked at one another in confusion. Then, seconds later, long, yellow metal bars jetted out of the ground, kicking dirt and grass everywhere. With a few clangs, it ensared them completely, forming a rounded cage with a ring of bars all around them.

They backed up against each other, their backs touching one another, as they looked left and right, their eyes wide in shock. What was going on here? Where did this thing come from? Why was it placed right there? It was almost as if...

"I knew you two would come here sooner or later."

Penny shuddered at that voice. No...it couldn't be... They had fears of this, but to hear and see it for themselves... It was too much to bear. Though reluctant, she forced herself to turn her head to see the source of the voice.

She and Rudy watched in stunned silence as Biclops, who had somehow managed to hide himself, walked towards them slowly. He did not carry his usual smile. The smirk on his face was more cold than anything. No welcoming features could be found. He stared down at them as he approached, his eyes blazing with contempt.

"I didn't think it would be this easy, though. I thought you two were smart." Biclops shook his head. "Oh well. Maybe I just overestimated you."

"B-Biclops?!" Rudy stared from the cage they were in, and then up at the large zoner again. "But...but you're too big to make something like this!"

Penny stared over at Rudy for a few moments, and then she also examined the cage and Biclops's size. He was right. Biclops's large, stubby fingers wouldn't allow him to make such a thing, let along bury it so perfectly under the ground. There was only on way that he could have had this set up. "Who helped you?" Rudy stared at her.

Biclops stopped several feet away, his height making it easy for him to see them in the cage clearly without having to get too close. "I don't think you have any right to know. You will probably go after them and 'take care of them', am I right?"

"What? No!" Rudy cried out. "We'd never...!"

"I don't believe you." Biclops hissed through clenched teeth. "I have no reason to believe you..."

The two children watched in fear as the giant, their former friend, walked towards them slowly. Even with light footsteps, the giant's steps still shook the ground. Rudy and Penny huddled closer together as they watched Biclops draw ever closer to where they are. They had no idea what to expect. What was Biclops going to do to them? Was he going to destroy them or was he going to kick them out of ChalkZone? The look on his face was not very comforting and hinted at something quite terrible.

A part of Penny just wanted to lay down and cry. Not out of fear, but in mourning for the loss of their friend. She couldn't imagine what it was like for Biclops to be forced to have his memories altered like that. The big guy probably fought really hard to maintain the truth, but he ultimately fell in the end. The idea of his mind being manipulated liek some kind of toy by that memotrice made her blood heat up partially.

Soon Biclops got close to them. He now stood only about five feet away. He was close enough that all he had to do was take one more step forward and he could slam his foot down on the cage. He could crush them and end their lives here and now. Once he did that, ChalkZone would be left completely vulnerable to whatever Skrawl wanted. The thought terrified the two children.

"Now...what should I do with you two?" The children winced at the giant's taunting voice. "Should I just stomp on you? Or should I do something else? I suppose tearing out your brainstems might be a good way to stop you."

Penny found her hand going to the back of her neck. She saw Rudy put his hand against the side of his face, his eyes wide in horror. It was clear he was thinking the same thing as her. They were both thinking uncomfortable thoughts about the giant going through with that threat.

"I don't know. What do you two think? Maybe you two know the best way to deal with you..." Biclops folded his arms against his chest. He gave a small, sly smile to them. "I'm a sport. I'll let you two decide how you will be dealt with."

Rudy gave a nervous smile. "Y-You could just let us go..."

Biclops narrowed his eyes at this. "Err... nope." He shook his head once. "Nice try, Tabootie, but I'm not stupid. I'm not falling for your tricks again. Now..." He leaned himself a little forward, his large eyes boring thorugh them. "Choose..."

Penny knew it was useless, but she gave it a shot anyway. "Please, Biclops. You have to try to remember." She raised her hands up. "We aren't the enemy! We are your friends! You have helped us and we helped you! You've been our..."

"Lies!" Barked Biclops.

"Please..." Penny whispered softly. She lowered her head, clasping her hands together. "R-Rudy gave you another eye.. Don't you remember...?"

At this, Biclops did seem to falter a little. There was a tad bit of recognition and confusion in those eyes. Penny felt some hope swelling up in her chest. Maybe Biclops would remember... Maybe he could begin to fight back... This vanished almost as quickly as it began, though, when Biclops shook his head, his eyes almost glowing with hate. He formed a fist with his hand and he slammed it near the cage, causing it to wobble a little and knocked the children to the side.

"Rudy Tabootie didn't draw me another eye! He stole one of them!"

At this, Rudy and Penny couldn't help but look at each other in confusion. What was the giant talking about? Rudy never did anything that cost Biclops another eye. He only ever had one before, until Rudy drew a second eye. What was this third eye that Biclops was speaking of?

"Two years ago, when he first came into ChalkZone, his first act was to put out one of my eyes!" Biclops pointed at his face. "It was located above these two!" There didn't seem to be much room, but that didn't stop the giant. "I remembered that horrible day, and it's because of that that I know that Rudy is no good!"

"But...that never happened..." Rudy started to say. He stopped when Biclops growled at him.

"Please, Biclops... Look at your memory information." Penny wasn't sure if that was altered or not. She hoped that, since the information was recorded inside of him like a tape player and not just stored in the brain, the memotrice hadn't been able to change that. "Do you remember, Biclops? If you look at your own internal database, you will find that..."

"Shut up!"

Rudy and Penny each let out a loud scream as Biclops struck the ground again, nearly striking them in the process. This caused them to be flipped onto their backs from the force. They collided with each other, letting out small groans of pain. They helped each other up slowly and turned to look up at the angered zoner, their bodies shaking. How will they convince the giant that he was wrong? That he was mistaken?

"That's it! I've had it! I know exactly what I am going to do with you two!" Biclops raised his hands up, the fingers arching and flexing. "As soon as I get my hands on you two, and when I am doing wiht you two, no one will be able to recognize you." Rudy and Penny held onto each other and whimpered softly at this. "Not even your..."

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and a bright flash. Rudy and Penny turned their heads away to shield their eyes. A few more bangs and flashes, and they could hear the giant letting out a few cries of pain. The thuds on the ground indicated at he was backing away. The two children could not see this happening, though, neither daring to open their eyes to be assaulted by the bright light.

They soon became aware of some clanging and jiggling. They could hear grunting of some kind, as if there was someone near them that was frustrated about something. Then a small bang of something against metal and a long squeak. They then felt something warm grab onto their hands and start to pull them out.

"Come with me! I don't know how much longer Biclops can be distracted!"

That voice... Could it be...?

"Snap?!" The two kids cried in unison, their voices filled with shock and elation at seeing their friend alive and well right before them.

Snap didn't return the smile. His face was etched in worry as he looked over at where Biclops was. "We'll worry about the reunion later. Let's just get out of here!"

Snap didn't need to say anything else. Hearing the giant let out an angered roar behind them, Penny and Rudy exchanged looks. They gave each other a nod before they turned and started to run with Snap.

sss

Skrawl couldn't help but smile as he watched the camera pan along with Rudy, Penny, and Snap, who kept on running. Just like they had planned. Biclops was chasing after them. But not in any normal way one might expect. To the untrained eye, this looked like any average chase. Blindly trying to catch those trying to run off. But to Skrawl, he could see some subtle differences in the giant's gate, which matched perfectly to the path that they had agreed upon.

The same thing could be said about Snap. He occassionally looked behind him. Rudy and Penny must think he was making sure Biclops wasn't too close, but in reality, he was making sure that Biclops was staying a certain distance. At least for a while. It would be time to part soon, but for now, they had to make it look interesting.

He was glad he thought of the idea of sending a single Beanie Boy out there with a camera to record this. It wasn't something he was going to do often, but for this plan, it was for the best. It wasn't like Rudy or Penny were looking up towards the sky. They weren't going to notice a Beanie Boy high above the ground with a video camera taping them. Even if they did see something, the Beanie Boy was too high up for them to recognize what it was. All they could do right now was run.

"This is going quite splendidly." Skrawl tapped his claw tips together, his mouth twisted upward in a smile. "My brilliant plan is going well."

Around him, a few of his Beanie Boys had gathered up near him to express their approval. They each gave those almost dopey kind of smiles at the screen as they watched the two children going along the designated path. It wouldn't be long now before...

(You mean our brilliant plan.)

Skrawl jolted at this sudden interruption. He whipped his head over and he could see Thoughtless coming over towards him. The bird-like zoner moved with a confident, almost arrogant gait, with an expression that fit it all. This caused Skrawl to curl his lip upwards into a snarl. Thoughtless reminded him of that unpleasant Craniac 4 with that statement. A part of him wondered if Thoughtless was going to do show him a series of failed experiments next, just as Craniac 4 had.

Skrawl kept his mouth shut and watched as Thoughtless moved further towards him. It looked over at the screen that he and the Beanie Boys were watching. It walked to the side of the screen. It turned its body in an arch, turning its head in a semi circle so it could look at the screen more closely. It watched what was going on with great curiosity for a few moments before it pulled back.

(I see it is going well...) Thoughtless raised its foot up and began to scratch at its head a little. (I see that those two really do remember instructions quite well.)

"When given the proper motivation..." Skrawl held up his hand in gesture, a half sneer on his face. "...so much is possible."

Thoughtless nodded. (Indeed it is.) It turned around and walked closer to Skrawl. (About how long do you think before they get here? Do you think they will arrive at our agreed time?)

Skrawl scratched his chin. "Unless Rudy or Penny do something stupid, then we should be fine." He looked at the screen, taking a few moments to watch as the two children screamed and ran for their lives. He couldn't help but chuckle at this. "That was a really clever idea you had, by the way." He looked down at Thoughtless with a sideways glance. "Using Cornerstone to lure them there."

(I told you it would work.) Thoughtless fluffed up its feathers in pride. (It worked like a charm.)

"I cannot deny that." Skrawl said. This was one intelligent little chicken...reptile...thing. He wouldn't admit it too much, though. He wanted to keep most of his pride for himself. Admitting another was as good as he, if not better, was not something that make him feel very comfortable. "Thanks to me," He paused for a moment, and then added, "..and you, we will have both creators within our grasp." He rubbed his hands together in an eager manner.

(Hmm perhaps there should be an extension to the plan a little.) Thoughtless mentioned abruptly.

Skrawl stared at it in confusion. "Why? Once they are trapped..."

(What fun is it to just keep them locked up? Why not...toy with them a little?) The memotrice suggested. It brought its wing forward, gesturing to Skrawl. (I can tell you hate them so much. Perhaps we could take advantage of that?)

Skrawl blinked a few times. He then smirked. He had little reason to resist the memotrice's suggestion. It wasn't like he had anything he was going to do in the meantime. This whole plan was mostly targeting them anyway. "And what do you suggest?"

The memotrice leaned in his direction, raising an eyebrow in an almost suggestive manner. (Remember what Snap said about driving a wedge between them?)

sss

Rudy's mind went a million miles per hour. He had a hard time piecing everything together. He found it difficult to fully believe that this was really happening. He had to keep staring ahead, locking his eyes on the blue zoner that was leading them to safety. He kept rubbing his eyes to make sure that he was really, truly there. No matter how many times he tried to clear his vision, it always remained the same.

Snap was here. He was with them. Somehow, he had escaped the clutches of Skrawl and that memotrice. He was safe now. This realization caused his chest to swell in happiness. A part of him just wanted to rush over and give his best friend a big hug.

But he had to refrain from doing so. Containing his excitement wasn't an easy thing to do, but with the brainwashed Biclops coming their way, it was just too dangerous to engage in too much conversation with either of his friends. He focused his physical effort on getting longer and longer strides, trying to keep himself as far ahead of Biclops as he could. He looked behind him, seeing how dangerously close the giant was getting. The sight of this caused his gut to wrench. He wished there was a way to get Biclops to remember. If only they could figure out something...

His mind turned back to Snap, his pupils focusing on the blue boy. He could feel questions arise inside of him.

How did his friend get away? What did Skrawl and the memotrice do to him? How did Snap know they were here? How did he get here? How did he get that injury on his eye? How frightened was he when he was locked away from them for a while?

As soon as they were able to rest, he would ask him those questions. He would sit Snap down and get him to talk of what happened. He wanted to be there for him when he recounted the horrible things that must have happened to him. He didn't seem too upset right now, but at the moment, the zoner's mind was focused on running. As soon as he relaxed, as soon as the realization of what happened came over him, Rudy wanted to be there to comfort him and tell him it was all right. He knew Penny felt the same way.

The trio continued to run as fast as they could. Biclops kept shouting behind them. They winced as they heard him pound against the ground, shaking it. Some of the things he called out to them made their blood freeze and hearts clench. In this state, he was hardly recognizable. It was hard for any of them to believe that this was the same Biclops who had been their ally before. Just what did that memotrice do to his memory? What sort of things did he have him believe?

Rudy could feel his chest lighting on fire. He wasn't sure how much more of this running he could take. He couldn't remember how far they had traveled. He wasn't even aware of how far into the Noodle Forest they were. All he was aware about was the giant was still chasing them and the only thing that was keeping him from catching them were this hills. The way they moved up and down, it caused them all to exert more pressure, and they could feel it in their legs. Heavy panting filled the air, and mouths were getting dry.

Soon it began to hurt to breathe. Rudy found his hand clutching his throat. He needed a glass of water. He cursed himself for not bringing any food or water with him. He thought he wasn't going to need any, but he had been incorrect. Oh what a fool he had been...

"I'm going to crush you!"

No time to dwell on that, though. Biclops hadn't worn out too much yet. This realization made Rudy wince. He recalled Snap stating that Biclops sometimes goes out jogging. Which means that the giant may be in better shape than them. That combined with a wider stride meant that, unless something happened up ahead, they could very well get captured.

Rudy thought of using the magic chalk against Biclops. Such a thing would never have crossed his mind before. The only time he had ever used it in the past was to prevent Biclops, then Cyclops, from hurting him or Snap; he never used it to outright attack him. Well, now seemed to be the perfect time to use it again. Perhaps draw something that would slow down Biclops. But what could he...

"Draw a banana!" Penny cried.

Rudy looked over at her. How did she know what he was thinking? He didn't dwell on it too much, though, and he looked behind him. Biclops was getting even closer. Though he hated the idea of potentially causing injury, he knew that he had no choice. Raising his chalk, he quickly began to sketch out a large banana and quickly fled as soon as he was finished.

As he and his friends got further away, he could hear Biclops let out a scream as he slipped on the banana peel and fell down. The loud thud could be heard for miles, Rudy was certain, and he could feel the ground shake underneath his feet. He felt his heart clench and he hoped that Biclops was going to be okay. He dare not look behind him, though, instead keeing his eyes on Snap as the small zoner continued to lead them away.

He didn't know how much longer they ran. He wasn't aware of where they were. If they had exited the Noodle Forest and went elsewhere, he wasn't aware of it. All he could do was focus on Snap and keep running, Penny not far away from him. He tried his best to ignore the burning sensation in his chest. He didn't want to stop. Not until they put as much distance as possible between him and that brainwashed giant.

Finally, after even more running, after nearly passing out from the pain in his chest from the running, Rudy, along with his two friends, came to a stop at a slanted hill. They stood at the edge of it, their hands on their thighs, their bodies parallel to the ground, panting heavily. They looked at each other, expressions of relief washing over their faces. It took a few moments, but soon they all began to catch their breath. When they did, they took a moment to look out at the landscape below them.

Rudy didn't recognize this place. Looking behind him, he could tell they were on the edge of the Noodle Forest. They were standing beside one of the noodle trees, which appeared a little smaller than the ones deeper in the forest. Down below them, there weren't any trees, but instead some tall grass and bushes. The bushes themselves were quite large and colorful, and some of them were shaped kind of, almost like trees. This land seemed to stretch on for a while, and, as he lifted up his head to look at the horizon, he could see the beginnings of another forest.

No, jungle. It was the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. The sight of this made Rudy smile. At last, they were getting closer to familiar territory. Once they got there, they could make their way back to ChalkZone City.

After he and his friends moved down the slant carefully, trying their best not to trip and fall, Rudy looked over at Snap. He could see a slightly jaded look in his friend's eye. It was a bit of a surprise to see, but considering what happened to him, he couldn't really blame his friend. Since they were now out of danger, now was a good time to begin asking him some questions.

"Hey Snap..." Rudy said in a gentle, caring voice. Snap looked at him with one eye. "How are you?"

Snap shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, I'm doing alright."

Penny moved a little closer to him, her eyes filled with concern. "What did Skrawl do to you?"

Snap looked at her for a few moments. He didn't answer right away. Rudy guessed he was trying to think of how to put the answer into words. It didn't take Snap too long. "Oh they treated me quite well."

This answer came as a shock to Rudy and Penny until they realized the sarcasm nature of their friend. This answer was tinged with a bit of bitterness, and they realized that Skrawl and the memotrice must have been awful to their friend. The injuries plain to see on his body, especially the one going over his eye, were enough physical evidence. But to have Snap confirm it..that was a different story.

Rudy took moment to stare at Snap's eye injury. The sight of it made him flinch, clenching his teeth. He could just imagine Skrawl slashing him, or even the memotrice. He guessed that he got these injuries after he was captured from the Chalk Mine. That may also how part of his clothes had been torn, leaving behind the pieces back in the tunnels. Rudy tried not to let his anger get the better of him. Sooner or later, Skrawl and the memotrice would be brought to justice.

For now, he wanted to focus on helping his friend get home. He was certain that Snap wanted a nice place to stay where he could relax and recover mentally from what was done to him. What better way than to go back to familiar territory? His home? It shouldn't take too long to get there, or so he hoped.

As they began to move along the tall grass, Rudy made his way closer to where Snap was. He could hear footsteps behind him and he could tell Penny was following him. He soon got close enough to reach out and touch Snap. He was a little surprised by the jolt Snap gave, but it was probably just out of surprise. He quickly withdrew his hand and whispered an apology. Snap stopped and looked at him.

"Did you want to ask me something?" Snap inquired, his eyes looking at him with curiosity. "You look like you have something else you want to say."

Rudy paused for a moment. There was indeed something he wanted to ask, but for some reason, it slipped out of his mind. He wasn't sure why he had forgotten. He normally wasn't this bad with questions. But no matter how hard he fought mentally, he couldn't get that question to come back.

Penny, however, seemed to have something of her own she wanted to ask. "Snap, how did you get away?"

Yes, that's exactly what Rudy wanted to ask.

Snap stared up at the two. He then looked down, turning his gaze away. "It...wasn't easy. They kept me locked up in a cage. Couldn't go anywhere. I was hardly fed or given anything to drink. And they kept trying to drill me for information. They wanted to hurt you and they wanted me to help do that."

Rudy and Penny stared down at their friend sympathetically. They reached out with their hand and touched his shoulders reassuringly. Snap gave them a grateful smile, but even with this attempted comfort, all he could do was keep his gaze to the ground. He was trying his best to look brave, but it was clear that he was more shaken up than he looked.

"I..I was starting to lose hope. A part of me wondered if I should just give in.." Snap's voice trailed off. Upon seeing their expressions, he quickly added, "But I never did. I fought against them. I refused to hurt you. After all, you two are my best friends."

The smile he gave was a little shaky and off, but considering what he had been through, this made sense. Rudy and Penny smiled the best they could at him. Although both of them felt anger for what was done to their friend, they were glad to see that he was okay now. They moved in a little closer to him and pulled him into a group hug. They remained like this for a few moments before they parted.

Although they didn't want to cut this short, they all knew they had to start getting out of here. There was no telling if Biclops was going to come after them again. And there was the case of Skrawl and the memotrice. What if they came after them, too? With Snap gone, they might be coming to try to reclaim him and milk him for more information. They had to get away, to somewhere the memotrice was unaware of. It wouldn't guarantee that it won't find them, but it would at least buy them some time.

They continued on their way, venturing through the tall grass. The tall blades occasionally got in their way, making them have to swat them so they could move through. Even then, some green blades still managed to hit them in their faces and other times even get in their mouths when they weren't careful. The bushes were a little easier to handle, although their needle sharp leaves irriated their skin. They tried to walk around them with some good distance, but the tall grass disguised much of them, and they would sometimes nearly run into a tall bush.

Rudy looked left and right, keeping an eye on everything here. He felt nervous for being here. He had no idea when or where someone might strike. This place, it was perfect cover for an ambush. If someone decided to strike now, they could all be in danger. The thought of it caused his blood to chill.

He continued moving foward, though, just like his friends. There was no time to just sit around and worry about what might happen. The most important thing was getting out of here as soon as possible. So long as they kept going straight, they should be able to make it to the Mumbo Jumbo Jungle. It woul be safer there; they'd know the landscape much better. They would be able to take advantage of some of the shortcuts that they knew there and they could keep ahead of their pursuers.

A few more minutes later, Rudy could see Snap heading towards one of the bushes. He noticed that there was an opening in it. Snap was motioning for them to follow him there.

"Let's rest here for a bit." The blue zoner said.

Rudy and Penny did not argue. Their legs still felt a little weak and their lungs hadn't yet truly recovered from all the running. They needed to sit down and rest for a while. The spot Snap chose was perfect. With the grass in front and enough room on the inside, they could hide from their pursuers for a while as they regained their bearings.

Rudy and Penny sat next to each other while Snap sat on the other side, his legs crossed. He looked over at them with a sympathetic and worried expression, which the two humans returned. They glanced over at the entrance, their minds racing as they kept an eye out for potential ambushers.

For the next few minutes, Rudy and the others relaxed. They didn't speak anything or anything. They just enjoyed the cool calmness of this place. So much better than being chased around like they were vermin. This place was just so peaceful. If they hadn't been chased, if they weren't hiding, they could have sworn that they were on vacation or something. Rudy couldn't help but smile a little. He wouldn't mind resting here for a long while. After all this was over, he had plans on coming back here. He'd have to make note of it.

However, their resting was short-lived. Without warning, Snap raised his head up, looking left and right as if he were trying to find something. Rudy and Penny could see the urgency in his eyes, and any sense of peace they had quickly melted away as their stomachs twisted with worry.

"What is it?" Penny whispered softly. She reached her hand out towards him. "Snap..?"

"Did you guys hear that?" Snap whispered softly as he looked back at them with wide eyes. "It sounded like a snake..."

At this, the kids' eyes bulged in horror. They glanced at one another, their minds racing. There was only one thing they could think of. Although there were many snakes in ChalkZone, they both couldn't help but wonder if it was Cornerstone. Had she found them?

"I'm going to go check it out." Said Snap.

"Wait..Snap!" Rudy called out. But he was too late. Snap had already left the safety of the bush. He lowered his hand and gritted his teeth as he watched the entrance with wide eyes. "I wish he would have listened.."

"You know how Snap is." Penny sighed with worry.

"I'm going after him." Rudy started to get up. Penny grabbed him and pulled him back down. "Penny..."

"Rudy, just stay down. Snap will be fine, I'm sure." From the tone of her voice, it didn't seem as though Penny fully believed her words. "We will be able to hear anything that happens. You know Skrawl and Cornerstone aren't exactly stealthy."

"And the memotrice?"

Penny wasn't able to answer that.

Rudy didn't have time to argue with Penny when he suddenly heard a loud hiss. He lifted his head up in a jolt, looking left and right. That hiss, it must have been the same one that Snap had heard. Penny was looking around as well, her eyes darting to try to find the source of the sound. The hiss remained prolonged, a fact that began to confuse them more than it terrified them. What was going on?

Rudy started to feel a little strange. He felt a slight headache began to spread through his head. No, not a headache. A tiredness. A heaviness that weighed down on his eyes and head, making him tilt forward without meaning to. Well he had been running for a while. Perhaps he was more exhausted than he had previously thought.

He struggled to keep his eyes open. He reminded himself that he had to remain awake, just in case something happened. Yet, despite his efforts to fight, the heaviness just grew and he could feel his eyes starting to burn. He blinked a few times, each time, getting longer and slower. Each time it got progressively harder to reopen his eyes. They wanted to remain shut, concealing light away from him, keeping him in the shadows.

Rudy felt himself losing the fight, but for some reason, it didn't fill him with any sense of terror. Instead, only relaxation. His eyes remained droopy and he was not able to open them up any further, a fact that did not scare him. His vision started to blur. He could see Penny starting to slump down against the wall, and he followed suit. He pressed his shoulder against the wall and let out a yawn. He momentarily thought of Snap, but simply shrugged it off. Snap would be fine. It was just so peaceful here. So...peaceful...

Rudy closed his eyes and allowed the warm, comforting darkness to encroach all around him.

sss

Mr. Bullnerd kept his hands on the wheel tightly, his foot on the pedal, going faster than normal. He kept his eyes on the road, both of them narrowed into slits. He did not pay any attention to the honking horns or the people shouting at him. He had a particular destination he needed to get to.

"Uh..dad...? Can you please slow down...?"

Reggie was in the passenger seat next to him. The seatbelt kept him firmly in place. The man did not spare the boy a glance as he kept his eyes on the road. But even with his face turned away, he could tell that the boy had a worried expression on his face. Indeed, his driving right now must be frightening him. But in the moment, the man didn't care.

He was not pleased with how Reggie had been treated at the police station. The fact that he was let go due to lack of confirming evidence was not much comfort to him. There was no doubt that they would keep looking, perhaps even going to his house to try to confirm it. This fact heated his blood up to a boil. He couldn't get why they didn't understand that his son was innocent. How could he be in two places at once?

Well he was going to do something about that here and now. He kept his eyes focused on the road, kept up the speed he was going on, ignoring the complaints. If they want to arrest him later, then so be it. Right now, the most important thing on his mind was defending his son against wrong scrutiny. He would see to it that this misunderstanding was cleared up.

He soon came to his destination. He came up to the sidewalk and he parked nearly on top of the concrete platform. He slammed the door shut and he began to walk over to the house. He turned his head and told his son to stay in the car, and then he proceeded to walk towards the house. With each step closer, he could feel his blood heating up more and more. By the time he reached the door, his teeth were clenched and his fists clutched tightly. It otok a lot of mental will for him to relax enough to knock on the door. He took a step back and waited.

It didn't take too long for the door to open up. He was immediately greeted with the sight of a large woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. He knew this woman all too well.

"Hello, Millie..." Mr. Bullnerd spoke, his voice barely containing his anger. "We need to talk."

sss

(You performed very well.) Thoughtless stated. (Quite admirably.)

Snap nodded his head slowly. He didn't reply and instead kept his eyes on Rudy and Penny. The two children had been successfully captured and were presently locked up in a cage. Their magic chalk had been taken away so they wouldn't be a threat any longer. Even with that security measure, however, there were still some concerns that they would escape. But at least, for now, they were helpless and trapped.

The memotrice watched Snap's expression. It could see the look of grim satisfaction on his face. It was intermixed with some level of disappointment. The zoner was likely upset that he wasn't able to gave a good blow at them. That wasn't part of the plan, though; he was only to lead them, which he did very well. The memotrice couldn't help but feel impressed by this. Even Skrawl, who seemedl ike he was hard one to please, was quite happy with the results. Their plan had been foolproof and the two children weren't able to realize what was going on, even at the very end. How delightful.

The memotrice soon stood next to Snap. Its long neck bent down and it peered down at the short, blue zoner. Its bright brown eyes flickered with interest as the zoner placed his hands against the glass that separated them from the creators. The memotrice truned its head and looked down at the cage below them, staring at the two humans.

It was almost hard to believe that these were the two humans Skrawl was so worked up about. These were the two that had foiled him time and again. These were the thorns in his sides. These two. Small children who were, what, ten, that somehow got the better of Skrawl. While it would never admit this outloud, this did seem pretty pathetic. Just how was it possible that Skrawl, who claimed to be so smart, and even in his mind, it saw quite a lot of intelligence, could lose to these two? Oh if only it could peer into their minds...

But it could not. Thoughtless had already tried to do that. These children were out of its grasp. But perhaps that could be a good thing. It allowed it to try to figure out other types of plans. It didn't need to rely solely on its mind manipulation powers. There were other ways of getting what it wanted. It had already discussed to Skrawl about what they should do when their 'guests' arrive, but perhaps now would be a good time to bring it up with Snap.

It could just use its knowledge of the zoner's mind as is, what it recalled, but it didn't want to be too suspicious. It took a step closer to the zoner and stared at him with curiosity gleaming in those eyes. (Did you say that they turned on each other before?)

"If by that, you mean they fought, then yes." Snap sounded slightly irritable. "I thought I told you that already."

(Yes, my apologies.) Thoughtless moved around the zoner in a tight circle. (I was just wondering if you had any suggestions on how we can go about this.) Thoughtless looked down at the cage. (They will be awake soon. Perhaps we could take this time to...toy with them a little.)

Snap's frown stretched into a smile. "I like the sound of that."

(I knew you would.) Thoughtless gave a small smirk. (Now...look down there and tell me what you think would be best.)

Snap did as he was told and he looked down at where Rudy and Penny were being held. The two children were still unconscious, but it would only be a matter of time before they wake up. If they were going to make a move, it would have to be very soon.

Thoughtless did and said nothing as it watched Snap stare at the children, his mind's gears clearly turning. It watched in curiosity as Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully, making facial expressions that indicated deep of thought. Even as the minutes began to pass, Thoughtless still refused to interfere. It was certain that, given enough time, Snap would be able to think of something. It just needed to be patient.

And it paid off.

Snap looked up at him with a twisted smile. "I think I know something."

(Oh? Do tell.)

Snap leaned his head in forward a little. "Do you have another cage?" Thoughtless nodded. "Get one of them out and place them in that cage and separate them."

(What is the point of that? Except to break their spirits.) Thoughtless scratched the side of its head. (How will that make them turn on each other?)

"Well, you can manipulate memories, right?" Snap inquired, motioning with his hand.

(Yes, but not humans. I told you that.) Thoughtless wasn't sure how Snap could have forgotten. It had told him this not too long after Rudy and Penny first arrived. (Did you forget?)

"Well no." Snap said.

The memotrice tilted its head to one side. (Then how will it help?)

Snap gave it a grin. "You and I might know that you can't change memories of humans..." He motioned to himself and the memotrice as he said this before making a broad motion to where Rudy and Penny were. "But they don't."

Seeing where Snap was getting at, the memotrice gave a small smile. (Oh I get what you're saying...)

sss

The first thing Rudy became aware of was fear. Raw terror clutching at his chest. He was on his feet as soon as his senses were regained. He looked left and right, seeing nothing but metal bars all around him. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to make sense of where he was.

Instinctively, he reached into his pocket to try to draw his way out of here. But the magic chalk, it was gone... He fumbled around in his pocket, whispering 'no' over and over again, not wanting to believe that he was defenseless. But no matter how hard he looked, no matter how hard he fumbled around in his pocket, there was nothing. The magic chalk he had really was gone.

He tried to keep himself calm. He tried to relax and think clearly about how he was going to get out of here. But his efforts were in vain. He was not able to stop his heart from racing and he couldn't help but look back and forth constantly, trying to find a way out only to find nothing. There wasn't even a door here. He had no idea how he had been placed in the cage, but he couldn't try to make sense of that. His racing mind focused on trying to locate a way out of here, despite how hopeless his efforts were.

He was in some kind of large, dome-shaped room. It was mostly dark save for some light rings that went upwards along the dome above him, arching up as if tracing along the sides. He looked all around him and saw there was only one hallway not too far from him. It was mostly dark, but he was certain he saw some faint light.

Wait, the light was getting a little brighter. He watched, his eyes squinting, trying to make out the figure. Someone was getting closer. Someone tall, large, bulbeous...

It was Skrawl.

Rudy narrowed his eyes into slights, his teeth bared. Of course. He should have known that this jellybean was involved. All of this, it had been his doing. Skrawl must have ambushed him and his friends and trapped them here. And as Skrawl entered the light, exposing his face, the expression alone was enough of a guilty admission to make Rudy clutch the bars of the cage and shake them.

"What have you done?!"

Skrawl didn't answer. He didn't even react to his outburst. He just approached him calmly and slowly, eyeing him up and down. "I am glad that you are finally awake, Master Tabootie." He motioned his hand towards him. "I was hoping that you would be up by now. If you weren't, I'm sure I could have thought of a way to get you to open up your eyes." His smile grew twisted. "Though they would not have been so much fun for you."

Rudy hissed through his clenched teeth. "What did you do to my friends?!"

"Friends...? Oh yes, well they are fine." Skrawl paced in front of the cage, his arm folded behind his back. "You need not worry about them. However, if I were you, I would think very carefully."

"Right now, I'm thinking about stopping you." Rudy narrowed his eyes.

Skrawl leaned his head back and he let out a laugh. Rudy flinched at this. He had never heard Skrawl laugh like this, especially for so long. Soon Skrawl stopped and he looked down at Rudy with a sideways glance. "Well yes. But what I mean is... how did you think you ended up here...?"

"You ambushed us." Rudy growled softly. "Don't try to confuse me, Skrawl. I remember what happened."

"And so quickly too! I'm so impressed!" It was hard to tell if Skrawl was being sarcastic or not. Either way, his tone of voice irritated Rudy and he couldn't help but let out a low growl. Skrawl just smiled at this, looking amused by his expression. "Well you are a bright child. I'm sure you can figure it out on your own."

Those words sounded so stilted and insincere. Rudy growled at them, showing Skrawl in a nonverbal way that he didn't believe what he was saying. Skrawl just chuckled at this, making Rudy feel his blood heat up even more, almost to a boiling point. He formed a fist with his hand and he pounded it against the cage. "Let me out, Skrawl!"

"Oh in due time I'm sure..." Skrawl motioned a few times with his hand. "It would be a shame if my nemesis were kept in a cage the whole time. Not much fun after a while." Rudy just glared at him. "Of course, this does give us a chance to answer a question that I've been rather curious about myself."

Although Rudy didn't want to ask, his mouth responded before he could stop it. "What could you possibly want to know?"

Skrawl gave him a look. "Which one of you two humans is the true Great Creator...?"

Rudy widened his eyes in confusion. He then narrowed them. "I don't know where you're getting at, Skrawl, but..."

"Oh it's just a simple question... Nothing more than that. If you want to think I'm up to something asking it... well..." Skrawl shrugged his shoulders. "That's all up to you. I am just wondering which of you is the most deserving of that title." Skrawl motioned towards him. "Oh I'm sure you'll win. But... Penny is quite clever herself..."

"Knock it off, Skrawl.." Rudy hissed.

Skrawl chortled softly. "Do I detect jealously?"

"Shut up!" Rudy had no idea where Skrawl was getting at or what he was thinking, but he was not going to let him manipulate him like that. "It doesn't matter which one of us you think deserves to be the Great Creator! We have more important things to worry about than that!"

"Touchy, touchy." Skrawl shook his head. "Okay, whatever you say. I have some important work to take care of." Skrawl gave him a nice, long sneer before he turned around and began to walk away. "Have fun in your cell, Tabootie. Don't worry. You won't be alone for too long..."

Rudy just glared at the large zoner as he walked away, disappearing out of sight. He clenched his teeth and growled. How dare Skrawl say those things... How dare he try to turn him against Penny like that... He couldn't believe that Skrawl would try such a thing. He had already attempted to drive them apart before and it didn't work. What made him think that it would work this time?

He pushed aside his anger as worry and fear came over him. He rested on the ground, his legs crossed, as he looked left and right. He couldn't help but feel his heart clench as a question moved through his mind.

Where were his friends?


	15. The Moment To Betray

There was no telling how long the darkness had lasted. There was no way to know for certain how long she had to endure the blackness, the uncertainty of where she was. Time seemed to freeze for a while, forcing her to endure it, in spite of how fearful it was making her. There was no choice. No easy path out of the darkness.

Even when the darkness began to let up, this did little to clear up her situation. The light shining it did little to shed any illumination on what had happened to her. All she knew at the moment was that she was trapped. Her vision had cleared and she could see the silver bars all around her. It was no secret that she was stuck inside some kind of large cage, shoved in what appeared to be a storage room. Boxes were lined up all along the wall, but none of them gave any information on where she was.

Penny leaned against the bars, rubbing her head a little. She could feel a dull ache spread through it, running across her forehead and down her face and part of her neck. She felt as though she had slept for way too long, like she was out for years and this was her first time waking up. Her mind felt a little muggy and she could feel her eyes burning, struggling to stay awake. She blinked a few times, attempting to sharpen her vision as much as she could. She took a moment to look around again, struggling to gain a sense of where she was.

But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't figure it out. She wasn't sure what it was. The lack of information or the lack of mental sharpness. Probably both. She just needed a bit of time. Then she could try to figure it out. Such a task seemed difficult, but she would be willing to try.

She recalled that she and Rudy were trying to hide from Cornerstone. That much of their memory remained in tact. What happened after...they weren't sure. Had they been bitten by Cornerstone? No, it didn't seem like it. She searched her body and found no evidence of a new injury. Besides, that idea wouldn't make sense given the fact that she was from the Real World. A worlder would not have a reaction to much in ChalkZone. Venom couldn't hurt her, although claws could. But there were no new claw marks... What was going on? What happened?

As her mind cleared up, she started to realize that her friends weren't in here with her. She recalled that Rudy and Snap were with her before. Now they were gone. Where had they been taken? Were they okay? Her eyes bulged at the thought of Snap. He was vulnerable to that venom. Was he bit? What happened with him?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. She lifted her head and looked over at the source of the sound. She could see a small shadow moving along the wall. She thought it was Snap at first, but with a gut twist, she realized that this couldn't be him. It was way too bird-like and...was that a tail...? She took in a sharp gasp when she realized what it was.

The memotrice...

Penny kept her wide eyes focused on the creature as it walked into the light, staring up at her with curiosity. The beast was every bit as scary as she had imagined it. Red body, blazing eyes with slit pupils, wicked-looking claws... This thing was obviously designed to be a villain. There were no appeasing features to be found on its body and nowhere in its movements were there any signs of comfort. Even the look of curiosity was intermixed with coldness, a potentially cruel intent, a threat hidden underneath that gaze.

The memotrice approached her slowly. Its body was hunched, its head pulled back in an S shape, looking from side to side as if to examine her. The sight of this was enough to make her skin crawl and she brought her arms to herself in a hug to try to fight against the goosebumps spreading through her body. This caused the memotrice to pause, leaning its head in an almost completely straight line as it watched her carefully. Penny pulled her head back and clenched her teeth. What was the zoner thinking about?

The memotrice then began to pace back and forth in front of her cage. All the while, it never took its brown eyes off of her. It appeared to scan her, as if it were some kind of living bio-scan. Penny struggled not to shiver, not to make any sort of sound. She could feel herself clench her teeth tightly, and she did her best to resist the urge to snap at it. She had no idea what it was fully capable of doing and she realized it was best if she just stayed quiet for now.

Yet the memotrice kept staring at her, almost as if it were expecting her to do something. She watched it carefully, noting its expression as it stared at her. It never relented, and that expression of its became more and more expectant. Yet Penny still refused to open her mouth.

Then, at last, she could hear something. Not all around her, and yet all around her. Inside her head, yet out. It was a rather strange phenomenon that left her feeling uneasy. It took her a while to realize that the source was from the back of her own mind, as if her brain had some kind of antenna and it was picking up the signal of something. And what she heard was such a simple phrase, yet given the circumstances, it left her feeling at great unease.

(Hello there, Penny Sanchez.)

Penny nearly jolted when she realized that it was the memotrice. It... it could talk..? But she thought that Snap said it wasn't capable of doing this. She then noticed the thing around its neck. It must be what was enabling it to speak to her.

(I must admit, you are...quite something. Even just looking at you now, you are something.)

Penny felt her skin crawl at that comment. She didn't like the tone the memotrice used. She remained silent, leaning away from the memotrice. She stared at it with clenched teeth, waiting to hear if it was going to tell her anything. Like what it was going to do with her or even how she got here in the first place.

The lack of her response caused the memotrice to frown slightly, tilting its head. Penny gulped, but still continued to remain silent. Her voice and mouth refused to operate, and she was not able to do much more than clench her teeth and stare worriedly at it.

The memotrice raised an eyebrow. (Not much of a talker? I am surprised. From what Skrawl told me, you love to talk. Well...not as much as your friend Snap, but..."

The mention of Snap's name caused Penny to break out of her fear trance. She leaned forward and held her hands into fists. "Where is Snap?!" She was surprised by her own aggression, but she quickly shrugged it off as she continued to glare at the memotrice. "What have you done to my friend?!"

The memotrice waved its wing out. (That...is something you will find out later.)

"Answer me now, you mutant chicken!" Penny snarled as she gripped the cage bars. "I demand you tell me where Snap is!"

A part of Penny did feel fearful of her reception. She was being more hostile than she normally was. While the situation was understandable, she knew that this attitude of hers could get herself into big trouble. She had to try to regain control of herself before she said something else stupid. But her mind was too heated up and her logic had faded. It couldn't fight its way through her anger, which now began to rule her mind. The only thing she could do was glare at the memotrice and await an answer.

(My name is Thoughtless.) The memotrice said with no inflexion, eyes narrowed. (I will thank you to call me that.)

Penny ground her teeth together. "What have you done..?"

Thoughtless pulled its head back. (Not much. On my own anyway. Skrawl is the one who thought of the planning. If you wish to know what is going on, you best talk to him.) The memotrice turned its head and looked down the hallway. (I do believe he is assessing our next course of action.)

Penny struggled up to her feet. She could feel her legs wobbling from the shere emotion rushing through her body. Her sharp glare did not leave the memotrice, who did not react to it whatsoever. Somehow, this lack of a reaction made her feel worse, and she cluched her fists even tighter. She had a strong urge to strike against the metal bars, a vain hope of trying to break herself free.

She managed to refrain herself, however, knowing that all she would do was hurt herself. The blow would be bad enough, but what if she angered Thoughtless? What if she gave it a reason to hurt her even worse than the blow against metal would have been? No, best to hold still, in spite of her urge to want to strike this zoner in the face.

(I can understand how you feel. Being locked in a cage is no fun. I can attest to that.) Thoughtless gave her a look that seemed to be false sympathy, although whether or not it was fake, Penny wasn't sure. Either way, it did little to comfort her. (Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to let you out. But I do not think I can trust you not to leave. You cannot leave.)

Penny gritted her teeth. Of course the zoner would say such a thing. It wouldn't have kidnapped her if it didn't want her to stay. "What exactly do you have planned?"

(I do not know if that is my place to say.) Thoughtless motioned to itself. (I'd love to tell you. Really I do. But...) It raised its wing up slightly in gesture. (I don't think Skrawl would appreciate if I did that. Secrecy and all. I'm sure he will tell you later.)

Penny narrowed her eyes at this. "How could you be working for that beast?" A stupid question, considering the memotrice's past. But she still found herself asking it anyway.

(He set me free.) The memotrice stated simply. (I owe him.)

Penny repied, "But what use would you have working for Skrawl? You have the advantage over him. I know you can alter the memories of zoners. What would make you want to work for him? Why wouldn't you make him do your own bidding? What is keeping you from doing something like that? Not that I am suggesting that you do... I just don't get it..." Penny folded her arms against her chest. "It simply makes no sense for someone of...your capabilities, to want to listen and follow a zoner whom you could easily control."

(I told you, I owe him.) The memotrice tilted its head slightly. (Why is that so hard to understand? Do you think that, because I was created to be dangerous, that I am without a heart?)

"I don't believe for a second that you have any good intentions." Penny hissed at it. "And nothing you say will ever make me believe that you have my best interest at heart."

The memotrice merely shrugged. (Suit yourself.)

"I know something is wrong here. I know you are up to something. There's just no reason that you would be working for Skrawl unless..."

Penny's voice trailed off. Her eyes widened. She couldn't help but bring her hand up to her chin, placing her fingertips there lightly. Of course... There was something. It nearly passed over her mind, and she almost forgot about it. Now that thought came back, stronger than before. She stared at the memotrice in the eyes, the brown irise and dark slit pupil boring straight through her.

"..you're... you're using him...aren't you...?"

The memotrice didn't answer. It simply stared at her, cocking its head to the side with curiosity. It made no attempt to confirm or deny her statement. It appeared to be waiting for her to continue.

Which she did.

Penny breathed softly, "That is why you are willing to work with him. You're the one pulling the strings. You're the one in charge... Skrawl is just your puppet. You are just playing along to make him feel like he's in charge, but you..." Penny pointed a finger at the memotrice. "..you have something planned, don't you, Thoughtless?"

(You may think however you wish.) Thoughtless gave a small smile at this. (I do not care how you percieve me. Whether or not your assessment of me is correct matters not. You will soon have your own fears to worry for.)

At this, Penny leaned forward, her hands gripping the bars once more. "What do you have planned for me and my friends?" She demanded, this time in a softer voice.

Thoughtless leaned slightly to once side. (You will find out about Snap later, I guarantee you. As for what we did to him, well... I will give you a hint. He is not the same person anymore. Not as you knew him.)

Penny felt her heart clench at this. Images of Snap being tortured instantly filled her head. These monsters... They must have shattered his spirit. Poor Snap.. What did he do to deserve that? She struggled to control the burning sensation moving along in her stomach, her teeth clenching tightly.

(As for you and Rudy Tabootie..)

Penny stared at the memotrice, waiting for it to continue.

The memotrice raised its wing up to the air. (I fear that it is too late for him. You see... I had a little...fun with him earlier.) It turned its head, giving her a wide, twisted smile. (It was fully worth it. Imagine his reaction when I began to change his memories...)

Penny's eyes bulged open in horror. She shook her head in denial. "N-No... you didn't..."

(Oh I did. He believes you are the enemy now. He has expressed interest in making you pay.) The memotrice rubbed its wings along the underside of its jaw. (I do wonder how he is going to react when he sees you. I imagine he might feel uneasy... He might pretend to care so you don't get suspicious...)

"Y-You're lying!" Penny spat. "You're just trying to confuse me!"

(Think what you will. At least I showed you some mercy and told you what was going on. Skrawl would have kept it a secret. Whether or not you take my words at heart are fully up to you. I won't stop you.) Thoughtless told her in an unsympathetic voice. (It matters not to me how you feel in the end. For now, you are our prisoner, and if you do anything to cross me, I will play with that brilliant mind of yours...) Thoughtless leaned in, spreading its wings in a threatening manner. (Do I make myself clear?)

Penny let out a gasp at this and she clutched her head tightly. She briefly thought of all the things Thoughtless might do, like turn her on Rudy or make her think she was something completely different. She bit her lip a little and she nodded her head slowly. She squeaked out a small word, "Y-Yes..."

(Good. I'm glad to hear it.) Thoughtless straightened its body out. (Now I have business to attend to. I shall leave you be. I see you have a lot to think about.) With that, the memotrice turned and walked away.

Even with the memotrice gone, Penny still found little comfort here. Her mind was racing, going many miles per hour. She thought about all that the memotrice had told her. The various things that compounded her repeatedly, filling her with a sense of dread, and placing some doubt on what she could expect in the future.

The thing with Skrawl shook her up a little. She already knew that she and her friends had to be wary of both of them. Skrawl was dangerous enough on his own. The combination of the memotrice made him even more dangerous. But the idea of him being controlled by the memotrice was unsettling, and it made her wonder just exactly what was going to happen. The memotrice may have different goals than Skrawl. Would she and her friends be prepared to face them?

Snap and Rudy... her best friends.. What if Thoughtless had been truthful? What if they had done something to them? What if Snap really had been tortured and ripped apart? What if he was a shadow of his former self? What if he was laying on the ground, in so much pain that it hurt to breathe? The thought of it brought tears to her eyes. She wanted to find him and cradle him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. Then there was Rudy...

She wanted to believe that Rudy was fine. She wanted to believe that Thoughtless was merely trying to rip her up. She could see him doing such a thing. But what if it was truthful? What if it really had altered Rudy's memory? What if he was now her enemy? The thought sent chills down her spine. But...if that's the case... She narrowed her eyes softly. She knew she had no choice but to fight him. She could only hope that, in the end, Rudy would forgive her for what she was about to do.

sss

Rudy formed a fist with his hand and slammed it against the hard ground. He ignored the pain that this caused his wrist. At the moment, he just didn't care. Nothing could quelch the rage that was surging through his body right now. Nothing except providing himself an outlet, even if it meant striking the ground like a little child. Well technically, he was a child. But that was beside the point.

He glared up ahead. There was no one there, yet he still glared as if he could see that smug Skrawl coming back to taunt him. He could just see that look on his face, how haughty he must feel. Oh how he would like to wipe that grin off his frace. Of all the schemes and stunts Skrawl tried to pull, that was by far the most... he wasn't even sure of what word tou se.

Skrawl must be crazy to think that he would be upset over the whole Great Creator thing. Yeah he was used to many of the zoners calling him that. Yeah he never thought of Penny being called that. But that was because it never crossed their minds. He didn't think anything less of Penny. She didn't care if she were called Great Creator or not. She never asked to be. A name does not mean too much when it comes to protecting ChalkZone. That was their top priority and that's what it always would be. No matter what Skrawl says, he'd never get upset at Penny over something as stupid as that.

But it's not like the jellybean would listen to him. That zoner almost never admitted when he was wrong and always shifted blame on someone else. It wouldn't surprise him that Skrawl would continue to insist on this detail, try to tell him something to get him to turn on Penny. Even if he knows that it wouldn't work, his pride would get in the way and prompt him to keep going. Skrawl had all the time in the world to waste time. Rudy was trapped with nowhere to go. Skrawl had no reason to take it slow now that he had him in his clutches. That meant he had all the free time to mess with his head a little.

Rudy did his best to ignore the jellybean's words. Even as they echoed in his mind, he struggled to ignore it the best that he could. He wasn't going to allow that evil jellybean to get the better of him. He wasn't going to waste his time worrying about something that never even bothered him in the first place. No, he would devote his time in figuring out how he was going to get out of here.

At the moment, there didn't seem to be any sort of way. Without the magic chalk, he couldn't draw anything. He would have one heck of a time getting out. Even if he did get out, getting into the Chalk Mine to get more was going to be dangerous. So far, he and Penny had been lucky enough to avoid that place. But he had a feeling that now their luck has run out. They would have to go in there and get some of the chalk so they could fight Skrawl.

But entering there without any sort of protection, and with Biclops against them... that was going to be very dangerous. How could he and Penny even hope of getting in and out without a problem? He and Snap, when they had first gone on, had nearly been captured by Biclops back then. He had almost... He wasn't sure what the giant was going to do to them, but he knew it wasn't going to be anything pleasant. Now he and Penny were having to go back there, with the same risk...

No... worse... Biclops was fully convinced that he and Penny had done terrible things. He wasn't going to react with the same manner as he did when he was eight. It was going to be worse than that. If their last encounter was of any indication, Biclops was going to tear them apart. He and his friends were lucky to have gotten away before the giant could annihilate them.

Rudy hoped that they would be able to free Biclops soon. There just...had to be some way they could help him. A way to get him to remember what had really happened. He wasn't sure how they were going to be able to pull it off. This was going to be one difficult situation. But... He forced himself to exhale. They would need to figure out something, and fast.

After a few more punches to the ground, Rudy finally stopped. He could feel his energy depleting, his anger diying down as it ran out of fuel. He slumped to the ground onto his knees. He lowered his body forward, his head facing the ground. Where he had strength before, now he felt only weakness. He was tired right now. Too tired to get up. Too tired to walk. Just...tired. A part of him wanted to lay down and rest, replenish his mind so he could try to think of a solution later. But that part of him that still worried, it was enough to keep him awake.

He clenched his teeth tightly. How was he going to get out of here? He couldn't pry open the bars, especially not with his hands hurting so much. He felt like an idiot for how he kept striking the ground. That wasn't his smartest move. But even if he didn't do that, he was not strong enough to do anything with the bars and he wouldn't be able to squeeze through them either.

Then there was the matter of Skrawl and the memotrice lurking about. He didn't know where they were at the moment. There was a chance that, during their escape, they would end up running into him. Then what were they going to do? It was going to be tough defending themselves against them without any magic chalk. True they could try ot find it here in the..wherever they were, but what were the odds that Skrawl even kept the chalk? He might have broken it into tiny pieces and crushed it and tossed it away somewhere.

And what of the Beanie Boys? There was no reason to think that they weren't here. He and Penny usually didn't think about them too much. But they were still Skrawl's loyal lackeys that did whatever that jellybean told them to do. They would easily be able to stop him and Penny from going anywhere should they happen to find them wandering the hallways. And unlike Skrawl and the memotrice, the Beanie Boys had a flight advantage.

He let out a low hiss. This was so frustrating. He could feel his head ache more. He could feel his fingertips burning with frustration. He could feel every part of his body just wanting to lash out and strike at the bars. The only thing stopping him was his own exhaustion; his body was not yet ready to get up and try again. All he could do right now was lay down and let his mind continue to churn and wander. Even as his head started to hurt, he continued to try to figure out something that he could do.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of anything. His mind only drew a blank or ideas that wouldn't work unless he was out or had the chalk or something. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he slumped into the ground on his belly, his arm sticking out of the cage, feeling the cold metal touching his skin. He rested his chin on the ground as he turned his tired, worn eyes out. He didn't want to give up hope, but at the moment, he wasn't seeing any way out of this place.

Maybe Rapsheeba and Blocky could... No, he didn't want to put them in danger. Besides, they didn't even know where he and Penny were. They weren't even aware that they had found Snap. At least..for a short time...

Rudy felt his heart pang at the thought of his friend. He hoped that he was okay. Snap was a strong fellow. Wherever he was being held, he was certain that he was retorting back, resisting, being defiant. All the things he knew Snap was like when it came to villains. He would smile if he wasn't so worried. He hoped that Snap would know when to hold his tongue and not to aggravate his captors too much. Rudy wouldn't want him to get hurt.

Not wanting to lay on the ground anymore, Rudy pressed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. He grunted as he felt his muscles ache and stretch as he picked himself up off the ground. He then leaned back away, feeling his back press into the bars behind him. He brought his knees up to his chest. He wrapped his arms around his thighs and brought them in closer. He rested his chin on his knees. He felt his mind's gears turning once more, continuing his struggle to figure out how he was going to get himself out. Despite having no idea, he just couldn't stop thinking about it. He knew how important it was to get out. If he didn't...

Then what was going to happen to ChalkZone...?

"Pssst!"

Rudy moved his head back so fast at that, he nearly banged it against the wall. He looked left and right for the source of that voice. He thought he recognized it, but it was so hissy and airy, he couldn't be certain.

"Rudy! Over here!"

Rudy's eyes widened at that voice. As he turned his head more to the right, to where the only hallway was located, he could see a familiar blue zoner coming towards him.

"Snap! What are..."

Snap rushed forward. It was then Rudy could see his teeth were clenched tightly, nervously. The zoner shushed him while motioning quickly with his hands, moving them up and down. "Be quiet!" Snap hissed at him. "Do you want to give me away?!"

Rudy flinched at this. He felt guilty for nearly sounding the alarm and bringing Skrawl's attention to his place. He moved closer to the front of the cage, his eyes hooked on Snap as he watched his friend approach him. Snap was moving forward very cautiously, stepping lightly as if this whole place were one big trip wire. It took the zoner a while before he even reached him. Rudy felt relief that none of their enemies had shown up in here yet.

"Here... Take this." Snap said after he looked around a bit. He held out a lock pick. "Use this to get out."

Rudy took the lock pick. It was gold in color, long, a little thin, but strong. He felt a sense of relief...for only a few moments. He gave a soft frown to his friend. "Snap, there's no doors here."

Snap raised his hand up and motioned towards the top of the cage. "The door is up there. It's hard to see, but if you look carefully..."

At this, Rudy moved over to where the zoner was pointing at. He turned his head up and stared at the ceiling of the cage. His eyes moved from one side to the other. It took a while, but he eventually saw what the zoner was pointing at. Indeed, there was an indention here that indicated a door. Rudy wasn't sure how he could have missed it, but he didn't dwell on it too much.

Rudy moved himself closer to the indention, scooting his knees along the ground. He ignored the scrapes he got from that as he reached up with the lock pick and he placed it in the hole. Wriggling his wrist all around, he started to pick the lock. This wasn't his forte, but he still gave it his best shot. He could feel Snap's eyes on him, watching him carefully as he continued picking at the lock. Rudy worked as quickly as he could, biting his tongue as he concentrated in opening up the cage door.

He finally heard a click and the door suddenly came down. He let out a yelp of pain as he felt the cold metal strike him on the head. He rubbed the top of his head as he felt a dull pain from where he was struck. He glared at the door, which now hung open, the top of it nearly touching the ground. He shook his head and he climbed out of the cage. He grabbed a hold of the bars, doing his best to gain leverege so he could pull himself up. His legs kicked in the air as he desperately tried to gain some kind of footing.

Seeing that he needed help, Snap grabbed onto his arms. His hands gripped them tightly and the small zoner began to pull back, yanking Rudy with him. With their combined efforts, Rudy was out of the cage completely. Rudy took a moment to catch his breath and let his body relax before he pushe his legs over the edge. Then, with a single push, he was off and onto the ground.

"Thanks, Snap." Rudy said as he smiled down at his friend. "I..."

Suddenly the sound of pounding footsteps filled the air. Rudy's eyes widened in shock as he saw Skrawl and two Beanie Boys come rushing in. The Beanie Boys hung on either side of the jellybean, who wore an angry expression on his face. His mismatched eyes looked from the open cage, to Rudy, and then to Snap. The shock and contempt washed through those eyes so fast, it was almost inconceivable.

"Beanie Boys! Get them!" Skrawl pointed a claw in their direction.

Snap grabbed onto Rudy's arm and yanked him. "Come on, Rudy! This way!"

Rudy didn't need to be prompted again. Giving one more slightly fearful look at Skrawl and the Beanie Boys, the boy joined his friend as they rushed forward. They dodged to the side as the Beanie Boys tried to get them. Rudy nearly fell down, but he managed to regain his footing. He grabbed Snap's arm and yanked him to help him avoid an attack. Snap issued a quick 'thank you' before continuing to run off. Rudy followed him and the two friends disappeared down the hallway.

sss

"Follow them! And remember!" Skrawl cupped his hands together so that his voice could be sent out. "Remember what I told you!"

The Beanie Boys nodded their heads, saluting their boss quickly before they continued on their way down the hallway. Skrawl watched as they left, chasing off after Rudy and Snap. Or rather, following Snap to the next phase of the plan.

Skrawl couldn't help but grin. So far, Rudy and Penny don't suspect anything of what happened with Snap. They still think that their little zoner pal was on their side. Snap was doing a marvelous job with acting. So long as he could keep this up for a while, then they could really screw over Rudy and Penny. Crushing their spirits and will was going to be so much fun. He hoped that he would get to see it. If not, well it was more important that this plan unfolded anyway.

He and Thoughtless had already fulfilled their part. They had placed the seeds of doubt in the minds of the two children. Even if Rudy and Penny would never admit to it, they both now carried some level of doubt. Just enough so that when the next phase was brought into the fray, it was going to have quite the reaction with the two. All he and Thoughtless had to do was make sure they pulled the right...strings.

But it wasn't them who needed to trigger it. All it would take is for Snap to make his move. It wouldn't be just yet, but when he did, if he pulled it off correctly, it was going to have a domino effect on those two. It would be the catalyst that they needed in order for that doubt to grow, become strong, to overflow, to start breaking them down mentally. Then, after that, the fun would begin.

His part presently over, the jellybean decided to go back to where Thoughtless was sitting down, waiting. There was no need for either of them to take further action until later. The Beanie Boys, as well as their second-in-command, Snap, could take over from here for now. Besides, he and the memotrice could still watch from the hidden cameras. That was where the memotrice was right now, actually. He would soon join him and the two of them could watch and make sure that everything goes according to plan.

Folding his arm behind his back, he began to make his way down the hallway. His crooked teeth were further exposed as he grinned, walking down the hallway. He could feel a strong sense of elation wash over his body. He couldn't stop his body from shaking in excitement.

This would be a day that he would never forget. It would be the day that he broke Rudy and Penny, shattered their spirit, and made sure they were never a threat again. His brilliant plan was working quite well. Thoughtless and Snap were doing a fine job with upholding his plan to their original intentions. So long as they kept this up, they were going to win. He let that repeat in his head a few times, allowing its meaning to overcome him.

They were going...to win.

Skrawl gave a dark smile as he continued down the hallway.

sss

So far everything was working out the way it was supposed to. Everything was falling in all the right places. So long as they kept this up, kept on this path, following to the designated area, it was all going to be good. Yes, this was going to work. He could just feel it in his bones. Although his outside showed a terrified yet determined expression, on the inside, he was smiling broadly.

Turning behind him, he could see that Rudy was still following him closely. Following him like some sort of lost puppy, looking for comfort, a way out. And still behind him were the two Beanie Boys. They were flying on either side of the hallway walls, gaining up on them, but never really getting close enough to grab either of them. Just like they had planned.

Snap turned his head back and, briefly, he gave a small smile to himself. The Beanie Boys were performing quite well. They did not make any unnecessary movements towards them. They remained where they were supposed to be, their hands out at their sides, fingers ready to grab. This alone was enough to entice Rudy to move faster, to give him reason not sit down and rest. After all, what reason does he have to think that the Beanie Boys weren't trying to fool him?

Rudy was so naive, unwilling to think outside of the box. He and Penny had their own way of viewing the world and nothing could be said to get them to change their minds. It was this stubbornness that led them to turning against him; they didn't want to believe that zoners really were alive in the sense that they were, and they set out to prove it by torturing him. Even after the experiment showed they were wrong, they had dismissed it as an anamoly. An unusual result to be disregarded.

Yet despite that, they were also so used to interacting with zoners, they kept on doing this even after, a fact that annoyed and confused and angered Snap. He would love to make them confess to the truth of their nature and how they really feel about ChalkZone and him, but he knew that nothing would make them sway from their believes. There was really nothing he could do to change them, so why bother trying?

The fact that Rudy was acting caring towards him, as if he did nothing wrong, was testament to that. Rudy knows full well what he had done, but he was pretending like it never happened. To Rudy, the experiments were no big deal, and that Snap, as a zoner, should have already gotten over it. Well he was quite wrong on that, and Snap looked forward to showing him just how wrong he really was. He would love to see the look in Rudy's eyes when he was finally proven wrong, to see his pride come crumbling down.

He and Rudy continued moving down the corridor, bending to its whim. Occassionally it would turn to the left or to the right as it cut through the building. This wasn't a problem for him. His nimble body, combined with the training he had with Skrawl, enabled him to dodge left and right very easily. The Beanie Boys were having a tiny big more trouble turning in the air to match with the winding corridor, but they were otherwise able to keep up. If anything, the difficulty and them slowing down a bit was making Rudy even more desperate to keep going. There was just something more menacing about being chased by something that seems far and yet still keeps following relentlessly.

Rudy was the one who had the most trouble keeping up. A few times, Snap found that he had to slow down to allow his former friend to keep up. He couldn't leave him behind. They weren't anywhere near their destination just yet. It's not going to work very well if they don't have Rudy right where they needed him.

It was a relief when the winding corridors finally stopped, well, winding so much. It straightened out and it became much easier to run across. Good thing, too. Snap wasn't sure if he could keep up with helping Rudy gain up on him so many times. He was also getting a little tired and winded from all the jumping around and trying to prevent himself from crashing into the wall.

Up ahead, he could see that there were now two new paths. He searched his mind as he tried to remember which path it was. Where did Skrawl say to go?

Oh yes, it was to the right. As soon as he got close, he shifted his body, twisting it so that he veered off in this new direction. He stopped when he heard Rudy trip on something and slam himself into the ground. Snap looked down at him, struggling not to smile at his pain. Despite how much it hurt him, he looked down at Rudy with forced sympathy and walked towards him.

"Are you okay?" Snap called out as he reached a hand towards Rudy. "Do you need help?"

Rudy shook his head as he pushed on his hands, his body raising up. "I'm fine." He soon climbed up to his feet. He motioned with his hand, gesturing to Snap to keep moving. "Just run!"

Seconds later, the Beanie Boys came in. They fake tackled Rudy, allowing themselves to miss and look a little clumsy. Rudy gave them a brief smile before he looked over to Snap and ran over to catch up with him. Snap looked down at the Beanie Boys and gave them a flashing expression of approval before he continued to run with Rudy.

This went on for a while longer. Running, dodging, turning. All the while, Snap was able to make sure that the Beanie Boys stayed where they were supposed to be, following them close behind so that Rudy continued believing that they were really being chased. It was all working out so perfectly. Snap could feel his chest swelling up in pride. All he needed to do was keep this up a little while longer, and then it would be time to make his move.

Ah, here they were. At last, they reached the spot.

Well, almost. It was still a little further out ahead, but they were going to reach it very soon. Snap pumped his legs and moved faster. This prompted Rudy to increase his speed as well.

Up ahead of them, they could see an entrance, no doors, just curving walls, into a rounded room. Well more like oval. It stretched out and curved almost like a kidney. There was a clear glass containment unit that held various weapons. Experimental ones that largely didn't even work, from what he remembered Skrawl saying before. There was also a tall, curving file cabinet-like thing and a rectangular opening that led into the ventilation systems.

Yes, this was the place. He remembered these details from what Skrawl told him. Snap picked up the pace a little and ran towards the room. He motioned with his hand to get Rudy to follow close behind him. Rudy did so in a heartbeat and joined the smell zoner as they wheeled into the room and rushed behind the cabinet. They sat down and they waited.

Snap kept himself on the outer edge, preventing Rudy from seeing out himself. Snap kept his eyes on the Beanie Boys, keeping his motions subtle, telling his thoughts through expressions alone. The Beanie Boys did come into the room and did a search, but they could see Snap and they knew what place not to look. They kept their voices mostly hushed, speaking only a few times to indicate a search. Just as planned, the Beanie Boys soon backed away and started to search elsewhere. After a few seconds, Snap crawled out of the space and motioned to Rudy.

"They are gone." He told him.

Rudy wiped his brow, clearly glad to hear that bit of news. "That's good. I thought we were never going to lose them!"

Snap nodded his head. He then turned his attention towards the ventilation system. He said not a word, keeping his eyes wordlessly blocked on it. He waited a few moments, hoping that Rudy would get an idea of what he was thinking of. Sure enough, the boy did, and he began to walk towards the ventilation shaft.

Rudy stared at it with a frowning face. "I wonder how this opens..." He grabbed onto the rim with his fingers and pressed in. Then he pulled back. The force was enough to make him slip. He let out a frustrated cry at this. "Darn...it's really tight!" He tried a few more times, but it wouldn't budge.

Snap walked over towards him. "Here, let me try."

Snap grabbed on. Unlike Rudy, he knew how this thing worked. As soon as he grabbed it, he twisted to one side, and, with a scraping sound, the door began to slide over to the left. Soon the hole was completely uncovered.

Rudy slapped himself in the face. "Of course... Why didn't I think of that before?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer as he moved forward, his eyes glued on the opening. "Come on, let's get in here. Maybe we can find our way out from here."

Snap nodded his head. "Yeah, good idea."

He didn't go after Rudy right away. As the boy examined the opening to see if he'd fit, Snap turned his attention towards the rack of weapons. True, most of them were simply failed experiments. But there was one weapon that worked well enough. He gave a sideways glance to Rudy to make sure that he didn't see what he was doing, and then he made his way over. He reached up and he grabbed onto the small weapon. He held it in his hands for a few seconds, admiring the small details and such. He then hid it in his costume and made his way towards Rudy.

The boy had already started to squeeze in. The boy was down on his knees, wriggling his way into the ventilation system. Snap moved close behind him, taking care to make sure that his belly didn't drag along the ground out of fear that Rudy would hear him.

Soon both of them were moving through the ventilation system. The pipes were smooth, held together by rivets and with edges that were so smooth they were hardly noticeable. The pipe they were in was a little small, but still allowed them a bit of room so they didn't feel so claustrophobic. The pipe continued straight for a while, but soon they found a downward slope. There were a few ridges here and it hurt when they tripped their arm or leg against them, but it was worth it as they emptied out into a larger, more square-ish shape pipe. Snap had no idea what this was used for, but it didn't matter. He continued on.

They continued moving through the pipe system like this. Snap tried not to grumble as Rudy slowed down a few times. Snap could feel his hand quivering, wanting so much to shoot him. But no...not yet. He had to wait until the right time. This pipe was one way for a while, and the spot they needed to be in was...

...here.

They soon entered a curving pipe. A little taller than the previous pipes, and also a little thinner. It curved around and dove down straight. Snap's eyes glinted as he stared at the wall that curved outward. He then turned his attention to Rudy, who was getting closer to the designated location. Snap wriggled himself to move a little faster, and before Rudy could get too far, he called out to him. "Wait!"

Rudy froze, turning his head to look over at the small zoner. "What is it?"

Snap's eyes glued onto the outward bending wall. "I think this wall might be loose." He touched his hand against it lightly. "We might be able to sneak out through here if we push this open." He looked up at Rudy. "Perhaps you can try?"

Rudy nodded his head. "Good thinking, Snap." With that, the boy placed his hand against the wall and started to push.

Snap watched this for a few seconds. With Rudy's eyes tightly shut, he didn't see Snap's smirk as he watched him in silence. Sure enough, Rudy wasn't able to get it open. Oh he tried, how he tried, but his skrawny body just wasn't good enough to get it open. Predictably, Rudy bent his back backwards and wiped his brow. He turned his head and stared over at Snap.

"I might need your help on this." Rudy told him. "Can you lend me a hand?"

Nodding his head, Snap started to walk over towards him. "Sure."

He took a few steps forward. Then, trying to make it look as convincing as possible, he tripped and fell forward, hitting his face against the cold, hard metal. He let out a yelp of pain and he pushed himself up on his hands. He cursed softly to himself.

"Snap!" Rudy shouted in shock. He took a step towards him and asked, "Do you need help?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind." Snap replied.

"Sure, what are friends for?" Rudy replied with a grin. "Hold on, I'll get you up."

Snap felt his heart twist at the word 'friend'. It made his blood heat up and he had to resist the urge to attack Rudy. Not just yet. He forced himself to smile as Rudy approached him. He waited until Rudy grabbed onto his arm and started to pull him up. Then, just as Snap's feet touched the ground, his body leaning towards Rudy, he finally, at long last, made his move.

Without warning, Snap pushed against Rudy. Using as much strength as he could, he rushed towards the wall and whammed Rudy against it as hard as he could. The force of the impact was enough to daze Rudy a little. Even as Snap moved back and glared down at him, Rudy took a few moments before he became aware of what had happened.

"S-Snap...?" Rudy spoke softly, staring at the zoner in confusion. "What are you...?"

Snap gritted his teeth, letting his mouth corners twist up in a darkened smile. Before Rudy had a chance to try to escape, Snap charged him again. He slammed his body into his, his hands grabbing onto the boy's arms. With Rudy secured against the wall, Snap raised his foot up and he kicked against the wall as hard as he could, striking its weak points. He could hear the rivets moving and loosening. Just a few more strikes should do it.

He could hear Rudy shouting at him in shock and worry and horror. Rudy kept demanding to know what he was doing, what was wrong with him, among other things. He tried to warn Snap not to keep kicking it like that, or at least to let him get out of the way first. Snap ignored him completely as he kept kicking against the wall. Then, with a loud creak, a crack, it caved in and the wall of the pipe broke loose. Snap never once let up on the pressure he had applied against Rudy.

This resulted in Rudy being pushed back and over the edge. The boy let out a scream of terror and he grabbed onto the edge with his hands. His fingertips pressed against the metal as he tried to hold on as tightly as he could. He looked up at Snap with a mixture of confusion and betrayal.

Just like how Snap had hoped.

"Snap...What is... what is going on here?" Rudy asked. His voice hardly raised up, dread clearly washing over his mind. Good, Snap hoped he would feel this way. He hoped to see Rudy's face when he realized he no longer had control over him.

Snap didn't speak to him at first. He just stared down at Rudy, using his body to keep him from pulling himself up. His arms folded behind his back. He stared down at Rudy with a cold expression, his mouth spreading into a smile, not ever warming up. He was certain that Rudy could see the glint of intention in his eyes, and judging from his expression, Rudy seemed to finally understand what was going to happen.

Snap pulled out the weapon from before. It was a small gun. Very thin in design, yet long. The tip ended in a long, thin black bar, and there were decorative ridges all over it. He held onto it with both of his hands. He looked down at the weapon as if to examine it, then he looked back at Rudy. He tilted his head to the side, letting a single, solid white eye stare down at the boy.

Giving a quick chortle, Snap said, "I've been waiting a long time for this..." He clenched his teeth tightly. "Bucko." He spat out, his voice laced with venom. He leveled his weapon and took aim.

"Wait! Don't! Please!"

Snap did not listen to him. He pulled the trigger and he fired.

Instantly, there was a large ball of energy, moving and twisting around all erratically, archs moving over it constantly. Small at first, but it grew rapidly in size. The loud cracks and buzzing filled the air as the light spread, illuminating the once dank and somewhat dark ventilation system. The last thing Snap saw of Rudy before the ball released were his wide, fear-filled eyes, looking almost completely white due to the light.

The ball slammed against him. The boy's feeble attempts to hold on did him no good. A loud scream eminated from his mouth as the ball burned part of him and forced him backwards. The scream was such a welcome sound to Snap and he couldn't help but give of a cold, satisfied laughter as Rudy was knocked off the edge and plummeted down into the darkness below. Snap stood on the edge and watched as he quickly vanished.

Giving a victorious 'hmph' sound, Snap backed away from the edge and left. It was time to report to Skrawl. He will be pleased.


	16. Harsh Realities

The first thing Rudy became aware of when he hit the ground was sheering pain in his leg. His limb had been bent in an odd way. It did not break, but the stres of the impact on it this way was enough to tear something inside. The pain radiated around his knee, stretching up into his thigh. A pain that, no matter how hard he tried to ignore, it would not go away.

The next thing that came to his mind was the smell of this place. It was pretty danky and disgusting. Rusted metal and rot and who knows what else lingered in the air, assaulting his nostrils. He looked left and right. The light of this place seemed to fit the smells quite well. It was quite dark and difficult to see too much outside of the spotlight that he was in. He looked up towards where he had fallen, shocked that he was still awake.

And that's when another thought entered his mind. It caused his stomach to twist and churn in horror.

Snap had betrayed him.

Rudy felt a sharp jolt of pain in his chest. He clutched it tightly as he struggled to come terms with what had happened up there. He tried to find some kind of excuse for why Snap did that, a way to make him believe that it wasn't really Snap at all. But absolutely nothing really added up, except... except that Snap really had turned on him. The thought caused his blood to freeze.

He couldn't understand it. Why? Why would Snap do something like this? Why would he hurt him? Why would he turn against himl ike that? He had never done anything like that before. He...he was his best friend...wasn't he...?

Rudy shut his eyes tightly, allowing the hot tears to pool out of his face. He remained on the ground, huddling himself together in a tight ball, and he started to cry. All the emotions that swirled in his head, fast and confusing, were released in the tears, staining his cheeks a deep red. He took in several shuddering throughs, loud sniffles filling the air, his body shaking harder as time passed. He soon found himself falling to his side, feeling the cold ground against his body, which almost seemed to embrace him, complimenting the feelings he was having right now.

The sting of betrayal... It hurt so bad. He always knew that being betrayed would hurt. He was just never prepared for just how badly. He trusted Snap. He and Penny trusted him. They had so much fun with him. All those adventures and the laughter... Did they really mean nothing to the zoner? Had Snap been using them this whole time? Had he only pretended to be concerned so that he could get the jump on them? Had it all been fake?

For a while, these thoughts were dominant in the boy's head. As he laid there and cried, he cursed himself for actually trusting Snap. He cursed himself for coming to this place. He should have just ignored him. He should have erased the portal. He should have stayed out of ChalkZone. Then he wouldn't be in this mess. To think, he could be spending some time on the playground or in his backyard and playing with Penny. They could have been testing out some of her projects and doing all sorts of other things. What things those were, he wasn't sure yet. But he was certain that they could have come up with something.

But then a jolt of electricity shot through his body. Something jolted in his mind as he yanked his head up, his eyes wide and staring out at nothing. His mouth slowly opened up, a wave of realization slowly, no, rapidly rising up, filling the inside of him with its feeling.

His mind flashed back to what he had seen on that live feedback. He and his friends were already certain that the memotrice had taken a part, that it had been the one to pin Snap down. But there was an outcome that neither of them would have believed. They thought that Snap would have been useless to the memotrice, but they had forgotten to consider one important factor: Snap was their best friend. The one zoner with the closest connection.

That memotrice... It was the one responsible for what had happened. It was the reason that Snap was like this. It had pinned Snap down and...

A burning sensation swelled up inside of him. He found his teeth grinding against each other, the bony structures nearly crushing under all that pressure. He pushed his trembling body off the ground, swaying himself from side to side as he regained his footing. He stumbled forward, his hand reaching out for a cold, wet pipe to hold onto. Though it sickened him to touch it, he did nothing to remove his hand. His burning anger was enough to make him forget all of that, his mind focused on the realization of what happened.

Snap had been brainwashed by that memotrice. That...that foul creature did...something to him. Changed something in his memories to turn him against them. He had no idea what it could be. There were too many memories to choose from. Or maybe it could even create whole new memories to throw off the zoner with. Whatever had happened, the end result was the same. Snap hated him and for reasons that never even happened.

That did not lessen the pain of what happened too much. Even if they all got this fixed, even if they fixed everything, he would still end up having to live with happened. He would still see that horrid face in his mind. He would still feel uncertainty when Snap was nearby, his mind constantly flashing back to this horrific event. It was going to take a long time to recover mentally from this, he knew. And that was with just him. He couldn't begin to imagine how Snap will feel once he's out of the spell, once he fully realizes what he did. The pain associated with knowing that you tried to kill your best friend... Snap was going to know that pain well, and there was nothing he could do to prevent that.

Rudy couldn't keep dwelling on this matter. Even though it hurt him, caused him to get a headache, made him want to punch the walls until they broke, he knew there was nothing he could do at the moment. Trapped down here, wherever this place was, he was helpless to do anything. He needed to push back his negative thoughts as much as possible and focus on getting himself out of here. If he remained trapped down here, then he wouldn't able to warn Penny in time of Snap's...condition. He had to get there before it was too late.

The first thing he needed figure out was which way to go. He turned his head from one side to the other, scanning the area. With so little light, he wasn't able to discern too much around here. He hardly moved from the spotlight that he was in. And looking up, he could tell there was no way to simply climb up out of here. He could see no pipes here that had openings, no matter how rusted they were. There were also too many paths to take. He could see at least three ways the pipes were going other than just up. Without any proper illumination, every step would be a gambit.

He then noticed a few large rocks laying about, possibly left there during construction. They looked pretty thick and heavy. He looked from them, to the rusted pipes, and back again. He had to wonder...

He wasn't sure if it was going to work. But he had to at least try. He grabbed onto the rock and lifted it up in his hand. He examined it carefully, noting its strange heaviness in spite of it looking a bit thin. He stared at it for a few moments before turning his attention to the pipe. Without another hesitation, he narrowed his eyes determinedly and walked over towards the pipe. Once he got into position, he raised up the rock and he struck down.

sss

Mr. Tabootie sat in the chair, one of his legs crossed over the other. His eyes, narrowed and practically glowing with anger, were pointed towards the table. He had the newspaper laying before him, but though he was looking right at it, he could hardly read what was on there, as if his eyes were preventing it. His finger was pressed against the paper, moving back and forth. He had done this so much that the paper had torn a little.

He looked over at where the door was. He couldn't see it from this angle, but he could tell that it was there from the shadow that was being casted out. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at it, clenching his teeth tightly. Even though it's been at least an hour how since it happened, he could still hear those words echo in his head.

"You're behind this, aren't you?"

"Why did you do it? Tell me! Why!"

"My boy is innocent!"

"I swear this isn't the end, Tabootie! I'll expose the truth, one way or another!"

Mr. Tabootie shook the thoughts out of his head. Their stinging and burning still penetrated him, and he struggled not to think about it. He knew that, no matter how hard he tried, there was no way he was going to be able to forget those words, nor could he stop the churning anger from rising up inside of his chest.

He had never seen Mr. Bullnerd that angry before. He was usually a calm, placant man. The opposite of Reggie, from what Rudy said of him. It was almost a shock to him that he really was that boy's father. Sure he wasn't too mad at first, but even right from when he first walked in, he could tell that something was wrong. The words he chose, his tone of voice, all of it led him to realizing that things were going to escalate soon.

And they did.

Mr. Tabootie couldn't even remember how it had happened, but seemingly out of nowhere, it appeared that the man was starting to think that he and his wife and Mrs. Sanchez were involved with what happened to Rudy and Penny. The very idea appalled them, but they were in too much shock to really stop the man from going on his rant. He believed that his son was innocent, and was confused by what had happened, and somehow, he got it in his head that they were responsible. That they had hurt their own children.

The thought was sickening. He had no idea how this man got that idea. He couldn't help but feel something snap inside of him in the moment, and he had slapped Mr. Bullnerd across the face. He hadn't meant to, and he immediately regretted it. He knew this was going to bite him back somehow, but he still couldn't bring himself to apologize. He was just as disappointed in Mr. Bullnerd as he was shocked at him. He had trusted this man before and they were on good terms, for the most part. Now that seemed to have broken under the weight of confusion and suspicion. He couldn't help but wonder if it could be ever mended.

That wasn't the only thing troubling him, nor was it the most pressing matter on his mind. He remembered how the man told them it wasn't the end. He wasn't sure how serious his words were, but he knew that it was best not to dismiss them. He was a town counsel member after all, and he very well had some power to do...something. Although he wasn't sure just what he would do, that didn't stop the fear from growing inside of him.

He was tempted to call the man and try to talk to him. But in his current state, trying to reason with the man would be hopeless. If Mr. Bullnerd was that angry, then it was best to wait a little before he attempted to talk to him. But how long would he have before he tried something? He couldn't be sure.

He turned his head and he could see his wife doing the dishes. She hadn't spoken a word since Mr. Bullnerd had left. Her movements weren't as fluid as they usually were. They seemed almost...robotic. Uncertain. Like she was forcing herself through this. It was clear that she was more affected by what happened than she initially led on. Mr. Tabootie wanted to say something to her, but he kept his mouth shut. What could he say admist all of this?

For now, there was nothing they could do. Well nothing except prepare themselves mentally for what was to come. Surely, sooner or later, there would be a huge uproar over what happened. They might have more people accusing them of hurting their son. They might end up getting hauled away by the police. They might be scrutinized, hated, blamed for something they didn't do. Even the words of their children might not be taken into account because the people might think they threatened them into silence.

But he knew one thing. No matter what happened, he and his wife would stick together. They will figure out a way to clear their names and get Mr. Bullnerd to see that they weren't blaming their son as a way of hiding their own guilt. They would never hurt their little boy. It was not something they would ever fathom.

Well...there was that slap...

Mr. Tabootie shook it out of his head. That had been in the head of the moment. And Rudy did forgive him for what happened. He had to stop worrying about it so much. What good would worrying about something like that, something that he already apologized for and could never change, do him anyway?

But in place of that worry came another. He thought back to what the man had told them before regarding Reggie. Mr. Tabootie, his wife, and Mrs. Sanchez were all convinced that Reggie had attacked their son again. But the information that Mr. Bullnerd had given them gave him pause. What if they had been wrong? What if it really wasn't Reggie at all? If he really was at home the whole time, or at the community service thing, whatever, then...

...then who had hurt their children?

The realization that he didn't know filled him with dread.

"I wonder how Rudy is doing."

The man turned his head to see that his wife had spoken. She hadn't turned to look at him, her face still down at the sink, doing the dishes. "I'm sure he's fine. He's probably playing with Penny right now. It will be all right."

"I'm sure you're right, dear. I just can't..." Mrs. Tabootie paused for a moment. "I can't just shake off this feeling that something might happen soon."

Mr. Tabootie looked at her sympathetically. "I know. It's been a rough few days for both of us." He clenched his teeth tightly. His mind wandered a bit as he remembered what had happened recently. "But I'm sure it will be all right." He finally said. "Rudy's playtime with Penny will probably do him some good. Get his mind off of what happened."

Mrs. Tabootie didn't seem comforted. "Then he will be dragged into the confusion. It's only a matter of time before Mr. Bullnerd makes his move and..."

"Millie, please...try not to worry about him. I'm sure Mr. Bullnerd won't do anything rash." Mr. Tabootie tried to comfort his wife the best he could. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but feared that skin contact would make her striked out against him, with how nervous she seemed. "Besides, even if he does do something, I don't think he would want to drag Rudy in, if he really thinks we...put him through stuff."

"Did we really jump to conclusions with Reggie?"

Mr. Tabootie snapped his head up at this question. He stared over at his wife for a few seconds, his mouth open in silence. He struggled to find the right words to say. For some reason, for the next few moments, he couldn't seem to bring himself to say anything. His wife noticed the silence and took it as an answer. She let out a soft sight. The sound of it was enough to wrench the man's heart.

"I... I wish we had tried...something." Mrs. Tabootie finally spoke. Her voice was soft and quiet. "Maybe there was something else that we had missed. Maybe we really weren't paying enough attention. Maybe..."

"Millie... Please stop."

Mrs. Tabootie set the dishes down. The clang that was heard ached in the man's ears, but he did not try to cover them. He remained still as he watched the woman turn her head to look over at him. He could see the glistening in her eyes. The sight of this immediately made him soften up and he leaned himself back. Although he hadn't yelled at his wife, he somehow thought that maybe he had taken a step too far.

Regardless, he held his ground. He wanted his wife to see that there was no point in beating herself up over this. What was done was done. They could sit here and blame themselves all day for jumping to conclusions about Reggie, or they could try to get to the bottom of what really happened.

"There is someone out there, Millie. Someone who had hurt our boy and Penny. It wasn't Reggie, but you cannot blame yourself or me for thinking that he was. He did hurt them before. We had a reason." Mr. Tabootie got up from his seat. He ignored the screech of the chair legs against the hard ground as he made his way towards his wife. "But now that we know that he isn't responsible, we need to figure out just how was. Someone out there has hurt these two and we need to figure out who it was."

Mrs. Tabootie stared in silence for a few moments. She turned her head away, her pupils staring at the floor beside her. "I know that, Joe. But..." She tightly clenched her teeth, a harsh puff of air moving between them in exasperation. "But how are we going to find out who did it? We have no leads."

Mr. Tabootie knew that his wife was correct. They didn't really know anyone else who would hurt Rudy. Neither of them could think of a soul that had it out for their son, or Penny. No one that seemed to fit the bill, who would be crazy enough to even try. Without any knowledge of a suspect, it was going to be much harder figuring out what happened. The consequences of what might happen if they didn't figure out...something, made him feel cold.

The man's eyes widened suddenly. A flash bolted in the back of his mind as a series of memories returned to him. There was something that he had forgotten about. There was someone who might have something to do with what happened. He hadn't thought of that man since the day of their encounter, but even after all this time, his dark feelings towards him hadn't lessened all that much.

Dr. Von Doktor.

He remembered how obsessed that man had been in interrogating their son to learn about perpetual motion. That man was absolutely crazy, as some of the other scientists could attest to. He had shown anger towards both Rudy and Penny. Perhaps... perhaps he was the one responsible for this.

But it was all just mere speculation. He had no proof of it whatsoever. That man might be nuts, but he also seemed like the type that didn't want to draw negative attention to himself. Considering how the other scientists laughed at his supposed discovery of perpetual motion, and the news articles that came after, it did seem unlikely that Dr. Von Doktor would risk coming after the children and garner even more negative publicity.

Still, who else did they know who would have it out for these two children? He was the perfect suspect. He had a reason to hate both of them, and he had shown he was quite nutty. Perhaps even nutty enough to capture the children or try to hurt them. He did already take them from their home to his laboratory. It seemed within reasonable deduction that he just might take such another risk to get what he wanted.

That settled it. Mr. Tabootie knew what they were going to do. As his wife looked at him in confusion at his change in demeanor, the man turned his head over and he glared off into the distance, unseeing anything, just drawing a blank in his visual field. But his mind was moving along rapidly as if it were on some kind of steroid.

They needed to speak to Dr. Von Doktor themselves.

sss

"Ah so you took care of him?"

"Yes, I have."

"Exactly where we marked?"

"Exactly."

Skrawl couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face as he smirked down at Snap. The small zoner had arrived a short time ago to present the wonderful news to him. He felt a sense of pride for his little prodigy. He was learning quite fast. And he had commanded the Beanie Boys well. Even without words, they followed him exactly, enabling them to spring the trap on the unsuspecting little boy.

There is still more to be done. They weren't yet done with the chalk boy. But they were going in steps in the right direction. It was only a matter of time before all the pieces were set in their proper places. If Rudy thought that this stung so much, if he thought this was the worst of it, he was in for a nasty surprise later on. Oh the fun they were going to have with them. Oh so much fun...

"What should I do now?"

Skrawl stared down at the little zoner, who was looking up at him expectantly. "Nothing...for now."

Snap looked disappointed by this answer. "Oh come on... There has to be something I could do!" He stared at Skrawl with wide eyes that almost seemed to glimmer. "I never felt so good in my life! That can't possibly be it!"

"You know very well that it isn't." Skrawl interrupted him before he could speak another word. "But you and I both know that we need to right for the right moment." Skrawl turned his head away, his arm folded up behind his back. "It will take a while before Rudy is able to leave the pipe system. If he does what I think he will, and I'm always right..." He couldn't help but feel a sense of pride at this comment. "...then he is going to take the pipe that will lead him up not too far away from Penny. But even this route will take him a while."

Snap grumbled softly. "I know... But still.. I have to do...something! I..." He looked left and right as he tried to figure out what he was going to say. The frustration just leaked all over his face. "I can't just sit here while Penny is all nice and cozy in her cage!"

Skrawl gave a small nod, an attempt of showing Snap that he understood. "I know, Snap. She is not feeling the pain that you were, and I'm sure that Master Tabootie, inspite of the fall, only felt a fraction of what you did." He held up his clawed hand in gesture. He watched as Snap lowered his frown, seeing his eyes narrow. "I assure you, however, they both will get what they deserve. After this is over, they will both be wishing for death."

Snap was silent, allowing this information to sink in. Skrawl watched as the zoner softened up his facial features a tad. He lifted up his head and looked back at him. The glare was still on his face, but weakened. The spark that was in those eyes before was gone. Then something else came. A small twisted smile, a glint in the eyes, a hidden desire. The sight of this smile made even Skrawl feel a little unnerved. Those eyes seemed to almost sparkle and glow with intent, and Skrawl had a feeling that if they were set upon Rudy or Penny, they would practically be lit on fire. It almost made him feel sorry for them.

Keyword: Almost.

Skrawl managed to tear his gaze away from the zoner and he proceeded to walk away from him a little. He didn't go anywhere in particular, didn't look at anything in specific. He just stood there, his arm still folded behind his back, as he tried to think of what they could do in the meantime.

He felt a small, tingly sensation in his head and hands and even his chest. He identified it as frustration. He was getting frustrated at all the waiting himself. He hid it well from the others, or so he hoped, but he was feeling the burn of just not knowing what to do. He had just told Snap to wait, but that didn't mean that he should be without something to do. He wanted to pass the time somehow. At least until that small alarm he had set up would go off. That wouldn't be for a while. So...what to do in the meantime?

He thought about talking to Thoughtless again, but he opted not to. He wasn't really interested in a conversation with it at the moment. It wasn't like it was going to tell him anything different. There was no more need to modify the plan. All they had to do was stick with it and everything was going to be fine.

But... for some reason, he felt..compelled to seek out that memotrice again. To go it and talk to it. He wasn't sure what it was. He didn't know just what was drawing him to the creature. There was really no reason why this should be happening, no reason for him to want to go back and speak to the memotrice. Yet he couldn't help but feel a strong wanting to go find Thoughtless and talk to it. It was a strange sensation that he had never felt before. Just what was this feeling that was making him want to do it? Was it...companionship?

No, it couldn't be. He didn't feel this way about Snap, and yet Snap was following his every command while the memotrice usually kept to itself. Why would the memotrice hold such a stronger feeling of him than Snap? Oh he felt pride for Snap and happiness of having a use out of him, and excitement at how well he was able to carry about the plans. But something felt different about the memotrice. Something that he could not fully place. It couldn't be companionship. No. It was...something else. Something that he could not identify.

He tried to fight against this strange feeling. He tried to remain where he was, remaining in this room with Snap, or at the very least, trying to find some place to be alone and rest. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep his gaze from turning up in the direction that he knew the memotrice's room was at. He tried to fight it for as long as he could, but nothing could stop his body from starting to walk in that direction. He couldn't stop himself. He had to go. Now.

"Skrawl?" Snap asked, surprise by this sudden leave. "Where are you going?"

Surpisingly, Skrawl was able to stop himself from walking further. He remained frozen there for a few moments, his eyes wide in confusion and uncertainty. Just what had caused him to begin walking like that? He was under no spell and yet he still walked despite wanting to stay here. He shook his head a few times, trying to get that strange feeling off of him.

"Oh, nowhere, really. I was just...stretching my legs." Skrawl told him quickly. Not the best kind of lie, but he hoped that it would get Snap off his back.

Snap looked up at him with uncertainty, raising an eyebrow. He didn't look entirely convinced, but soon he nodded his head slowly. "I see... Yeah my legs are a little stiff, too." It was hard to tell if the zoner was being serious or if he was saying it as a way of comforting him, showing him that he wasn't alone. "Perhaps we could play a game?"

At this, the jellybean forced his head to look down. "A game? I haven't reall played too many of those."

"I can see that." Snap folded his arms against his chest. "You take things a little too seriously sometimes. You should loosen up a little more."

The idea sounded preposterous. Him? Loosen up? Waste his time playing childish games? Please, the only games that he would ever want to play are those which had to deal with messing with lives. He enjoyed the idea of watching Rudy and Penny suffer underneath his claws. He was growing a little impatient and it was too tempting to go up to Penny and rip out her stomach and throat. The only thing preventing him is that new plan he and the memotrice devised, the one that would prolong their pain and suffering for their enjoyment. Breaking their spirits and shattering their hope was more satisfying than just simply doing them in.

He was shocked that Snap would even think about games, well games in that sense, at a time like this. He would have thought that the zoner had lost all sense of innocense with the new memories that had been given to him. Yet there he stood, his smile, now softer than before looking up at him, his invitation still open to play. It came as quite a shock to the jellybean that Snap could even want to play a game, or even suggest it to him.

He was tempted to reject the invite. He had no intention on wasting his time with something so stupid and useless as that. He would rather spend his time planning and..

But what was there to plan? At the moment, there was really nothing. It would take Rudy a while to get to his appointed destination and there was no way Penny could ever escape. And even if she did, the Beanie Boys could restrain her very easily. Binding her arms behind her back was a good idea if she tried something like that. And while there was a chance that Rudy might end up going the wrong way and end up in the wrong part of the hideout, Skrawl had a backup plan for that, too. He wouldn't want to have anything done to Penny, so if he threatened her, he could lead him right into a trap. Rudy was such a goody two-shoes. Even if there was more benefit in fleeing, he would never turn his back on his friends.

It would be so much fun turning that around against him. He would love to see the look in his eyes, the emotional hurt aching from those visual orbs of his, as his own friendship with Penny was used to tear him apart. Even after they succeed in flipping them on one another, he knew that there would still be some sense of loyalty to the other. Loyalty that could be exploited and used to his advantage.

As his mind turned back to the small zoner below him, he gave a soft sigh. He realized that, since there was nothing to plan, and he did need a distraction from finding himself walking back towards the memotrice, as he did not want the memotrice to find him creepy, he decided that perhaps it was a good idea to take Snap's advice. After all, if he sat here playing some sort of silly game with him, it would keep him distracted. He would be focused on winning the game rather than on the memotrice. And it would help the time move by a lot faster.

Sure, why not? He had nothing to lose really. Well other than a bit of his pride, but all that would be brought back when the plan resumed in a while. It wasn't like anyone was going to see him do this and even if they did, would they really be less afraid of him? He would think not.

"All right then." Skrawl said as he moved over towards the small zoner. He sat down on the ground, his two limbs crossing over one another. "What did you have in mind?"

Snap folded one arm while his hand rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his gaze turned the side, frowning. His eyes almost seemed to sparkle when an idea struck him. "I know! We could play Chinese Chalkers!"

Skrawl stared him blankly for a few seconds. "What?"

"Chinese Chalkers." Snap said again, motioning his hand in his direction. "Rudy and Penny used to play it with me before they..." His eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched. "...before they betrayed me.." He shook the memory out of his head and continued, "It's a really fun game actually! I know you wouldn't have all the right pieces here, but we could improvise!" He looked left and right. "Now what to use..."

Skrawl remained silent as he watched Snap walk all around the room, grabbing some various stuff to play the game with. He wasn't entirely sure of what to make of this. He had never heard of Chinese Chalkers before and a part of him wondered if he even wanted to. It sounded like such a stupid game. He almost worried about what the Beanie Boys would say to him if they caught him playing something like this.

After a few minutes of watching Snap gathering some stuff, coming over, walking away to grab more stuff, Skrawl soon found himself presented with a makeshift board, some colorful balls of various sizes, and broken pieces of pencil, both with graphite endings to write with, paired up with green-colored paper. He blinked a few times as he looked from him and then to Snap. The full realization of what was happening weighed down on him and he looked back at the board.

Yep, this was stupid all right.

But he didn't back down. A part of him felt like this was almost a challenge. A test of his intellect. He never backed down from one of those. He felt like he had to prove something to someone. He wasn't sure why. He just had this strange urge.

He lifted up his pencil, clutching it tightly in his long claws. He looked from it and then to Snap. After a few moments, he said, "Okay...what do we do?"

Snap moved himself forward, never taking his eyes off of the game before him. There was some kind of look in his eyes. A longing and familiarity, but also a spark of painful nostalgia, as if he was remembering how he played this game with Rudy and Penny, only for them to betray him. Or specifically, before Thoughtless had screwed up with his memory and made him think differently.

But despite that, Snap seemed willing to move on. Such a trait was almost..admirable, Skrawl had to admit. He shrugged the thought aside, disgusted that he thought such a thing. Yet he couldn't help it. While Snap's rejection was fake, all in his head, somehow it still made him feel almost...connected to him. A sick feeling but strong, one he could not shake off. He felt as if he shared something with the small zoner now. Someone whom he could relate to in some way.

The blue zoner leaned himself forward, his arm reaching out towards one of the pieces. He grabbed onto it with his rounded hand tightly. He tilted his head up and looked over at Skrawl. Making sure he was looking, he sais, "This is how you play..."

Skrawl sat in silence as he watched Snap move the piece, all the while explaining how to do it. He nodded his head in understanding as the words flowed out. After Snap was done, the zoner let go of the piece and leaned back. He looked up at Skrawl for a few seconds before he began to speak again.

"Do you understand?"

Skrawl nodded his head once. "It seems fairly simple."

Snap smiled at this. "Okay then, let's begin!" He moved the piece back so he could get started for real. A playful smile spread across his face. "I bet I will win."

Skrawl widened his eyes at this. He then let out a low growl. "No way!" He raised a fist in the air. "You are no match for my intellect!"

"Heheheh... perhaps. But you're a noobie at this, Skrawl." Snap said a with a smirk, placing a hand against his chest in a prideful manner. "Are you sure you can take on a champion?"

Growling, Skrawl leaned in, staring at Snap right in the eyes. "I'll show you!"

Snap smirked at him playfully. "Bring it on!"

sss

Where was it? It should be in here somewhere. It knew that he had flipped by it awhile ago. Darn this old book and its stickiness and faded words. So difficult to properly navigate. Nonetheless, it kept at it, pushing against the papers quickly, flipping them over vigorously as it struggled to find that one page.

Ah yes, here it was. It had almost passed it again. Such luck that it was able to find this page again. It looked down at the paper intently, its bright brown eyes looking over the words. Such odd words. They'd appear like scribbles to anyone else. But to it, they were as clear as day, their meanings and implications practically jumping off the page. It remained settled on the ground, pressing its body against the floor, as it peered down at the words underneath its gaze.

It could practically hear these words in its head. It had read them before, practically memorizing them. It was these words that kept it going, what helped it never wafer its position. It was the one thing that gave it a sense of hope.

'To those who want it, you must dare to seek it. But to dare to seek it, you must first want it. Hidden inside these walls lies something you want. But you must first understand the meaning. Search around and seek forth something you don't want, and only then will you find it.'

A strange series of sentences. They baffled the memotrice at first. It took it a while studying this while at Skrawl's hideout to finally understand what it was talking about. It was hard to say if its guess was even remotely correct or not. It could be wrong. But..no, it had to be right on this. It just had to. There was nothing else it thought it could be.

Thoughtless stared at the series of sentences for a few moments, its toe claws pressing against the paper to keep it open. The longer it stared at it, the more it started to sense something. A sense of belonging...no not that. Something else. Similar but... longing. Yes, that's what it was. This sentence was calling out to it in a way. Guiding it towards something. It could not ignore this call. It would need to do something about it soon.

But first, it had to wait. It was not yet time to make its move. It still had something else to take care of first. There were those human creators after all. They needed to be dealt with properly, and given the plan it had, that would take some time. It had needed a bit more time to read this book, which was why it suggested some of these things to Skrawl. To give it more time to figure things out.

Speaking of Skrawl... Thoughtless turned its head and peered down the hallway. The jellybean hadn't shown up like it had expected he would. It wondered if something was wrong. It thought of getting up and finding him. But...no, it best not. It would leave the jellybean be. It had a feeling that the jellybean would eventually come.

It turned its beak back down towards the page. It was then it noticed the last sentence on the page. It didn't know how it had missed this before. It had read this page many times, and yet it didn't recall this last part near the bottom. It stared at it for few moments, narrowing its eyes and its pupils shrinking a little as it read what it said.

'To those who dare try, something unpleasant will await. Be careful of what you seek and be wary of that goal. Underneath you may be a void, unrelenting and swirling. Beware the icy cold that will seep in through the cracks and through the invisible walls. They may bring you down, all for the sake of wanting the flame.'

Thoughtless pulled its head back, its beak managing to curve upwards a little despite having no lips. Its first thought was to comment on how ridiculous that statement was. It wanted to shake its head from side to side and just shut the book. But it couldn't bring itself to do something like that. No, it was just a stupid sentence. Not everything here was meant to be taken literally. It could simply ignore that and move on.

Besides, it had other things to keep its mind on right now. It lifted its body up off the ground, leaving behind the book. It walked forward, its piercing brown eyes staring out towards the door. It turned its head away and headed back towards the bookshelf. It stopped in front and it raised its foot up, moving its claws along the bottom row. It stopped when it came across one book in particular. It grabbed it and it pulled it out.

The memotrice lifted the book up with its foot, perfectly balancing on its remaining leg as it stared at the book's title. It read 'Geomites: Secrets Of The Colored Stones'. A small smile spread across its beak. Yes, this is what it was looking for. It placed the book down on the ground, opened up to one of the pages, and it began to read.

As it did so, it kept lifting up its head and looking around for any sign of Skrawl. The jellybean still hadn't shown up like he always did, almost on schedule. But it did not bother it too much. It knew that Skrawl would come to it at some point.

He always did.


	17. Thoughts Of Doubt

He tried his best to push back the powerful headache that spread through his skull. But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he resisted, the headache persisted. It had clawed its way into existence and it showed no signs of going away any time soon. It was an unfortunate reality that he was forced to face. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Well, nothing...except wait.

Snap remembered how he had gotten like this. It had come about so suddenly, he didn't even realize what was going on at first. He wasn't even entirely sure what triggered it. Was it that game? Yes... It had to be that game. That was the last thing he did before he suddenly felt like this. That was the last thing he recalled before something big and heavy suddenly weighed down on his head and shoulders, nearly forcing him into the ground.

It didn't start right away of course. At first, he and Skrawl were just having fun. Well he thought Skrawl was having some fun. It was hard to tell with that big zoner. He hardly ever really smiled too much unless it had something to do with the plan going well. He hardly smiled when it came to fun. Snap longed to feel real fun again after what Rudy and Penny did to him, and he did that in the form of playing a game with Skrawl. Something that he himself had enjoyed immensely.

Chinese Chalkers was an easy game to pick up on. It was just a matter of simple movement, going in the right directions, making sure that you didn't slip up your opponent's pieces, among a few other things. It was simple, yet fun. He had encouraged Skrawl to play not just for himself, but also for Skrawl. He seemed pretty stressed out and this was a good way to unwind and relax. Instead of worrying about the plans, they could just worry about the game for a while. To play and try to take victory over the other that didn't involve any sort of violence or capture. That didn't involve worrying about whether or not they would come out alive in the end.

After all, that's what he had to worry about when Rudy and Penny experimented on him. The haunting memories still zipped through his head, making him shake at times, making his blood boil in others, all the while making him feel sick to his stomach. Sometimes he wondered if Skrawl held the same fear for them that he did. He must have, judging from his desperation to get rid of them. It made him wonder...

...did Rudy and Penny sneak back into ChalkZone to hurt him?

It was around that he had this thought during the game that he was bombarded with a sudden rush of brain activity. Thoughts, countless thoughts, flooded his mind. Most of them were questions. Others statements. But all of them had to do with his memory of what happened with Rudy and Penny. Well most of them. There were a few that were centered around Skrawl himself.

He had tried to dismiss it during the game. He tried to push back the thoughts, thinking that it would go away with time. He was just confusing himsel and he needed to stop worrying about it, otherwise it would get worse. And for a while, he was successful. The thoughts eventually stopped coming and he was able to concentrate on the game.

But that didn't last for very long. The thoughts suddenly came back, stronger and more intense than before. They filled him up with confusing feelings. Anger and sadness swirled around inside of him, trapping him in a cloud of perplexion inside his own mind. He could feel a pounding headache spreading through his skull, and it got worse as time went in, not better. Eventually he had to clutch his head and dismiss himself. Skrawl had asked him what was wrong, but Snap dismissed it quickly, stating that he was fine. A lie, but he didn't want Skrawl to worry about him. He just...need some time. That was all.

Now he laid here in his guest bed that Skrawl so generously offered him. He wanted to go back home, but...no, that gave him too many uncomfortable memories. He didn't want to be near anything that reminded him too much of Rudy or Penny. They were the ones who helped him find that home. He just wanted to leave it abandoned. He had thought about going to Blocky or Rapsheeba, but they were probably still fooled by those two and would turn him in, not believing his words about what had happened. So he eventually decided to just stay here. It was safe here. Rudy and Penny would not be able to get to him in here. He could relax.

Or at least, that's what he was trying to do, but that came as rather difficult. He could feel the nice softness of the bed underneath him. He could feel the comfortable air around him. A nice temperature. Not too hot or too cold; just right. He would feel even more comfortable underneath the blankets that were provided for him. A nice long sleep might be exactly what was being called for right now.

But those thoughts, they would haunt his dreams. He knew they would. As soon as he closed his eyes and drifted off, he would be invaded by those thoughts. They would plant confusing imagery in his head, trying to get him all mixed up. He couldn't get to sleep yet. Not until he understood just what was going on with him.

He pushed himself off the bed and he began to pace back and forth. Moving around, like for many, was a good way to think. Maybe if he kept walking around for a while, side to side, in circles, whatever, he would be able to think hard enough to figure out what was going on.

The first thing he did was conjure forth the most prominent thought that just wouldn't go away.

ooo Was this what happened? ooo

Such a stupid though. He wasn't even sure why he thought it. He remembered that day very clearly. There was nothing that could convince him that it was a lie. How could it be? Nothing that vivid, nothing that clear could possibly be fake. He remembered the pain all too clearly. He remembered how he had pleaded with them, but they just laughed at him when they brought down that knife. He remembered the talking cookies and...

...wait. There weren't any cookies. He remembered blood on the ground, but not cookies. Wait, he did remember the cookies. He remembered Rudy and Penny looking concerned and some elephant-vacuum hybrid...

No, that didn't happen. It wasn't that. He knew it was blood and tools and pain and screams. There hadn't been any sort of rescue those two performed. Skrawl was the one who knocked them away. Skrawl was the one who saved him. Not Rudy or Penny. They never blew bubbles at some pink thing to save him. If there was any pink, it was part of his blood. The blood that those two had shed.

Or was it...?

ooo What really happened? Which set of memories is right? Perhaps it was Skrawl who had lied? ooo

Snap clutched his head tightly, clenching his teeth. He let out a pained seething sound as he shook his head from one side to the other. He tried to get the confusing, conflicting thoughts out of his head. He struggled to regain control of himself.

But his efforts just didn't seem to be working at the moment. All he succeeded in doing was increase his head pains. They grew and spread until they reached the back of his neck. He found himself falling down onto one knee as he gripped his head so tightly, he thought he was going to draw blood somehow. He hunched his back, shutting his eyes tightly, struggling to regain his senses. But despite his efforts, he was treated with several minutes of a pounding headache.

He continued to feel those thoughts moving through his head. Others were coming as well, different ones, just as haunting and demanding as the others. He could barely get a thought in of his own. Any ones that made it through were just tainted or altered by this rapid, recurring thoughts. It frightened him, and he could feel his body shiver. But it wasn't just his fear that caused this reaction. It was his utter confusion and anger towards said confusion. He shouldn't be this confused on what happend. So...why was he?

He was being confronted with memories from that day. Both of them felt just as vivid and alive as the other. Both of them felt so real, so certain that it was the correct memory. Both of them felt as though they were screaming 'yes this is what really happened'. But..they were both contradictory as well. They couldn't both be the same. So Snap had to figure out one thing.

Which set of memories was the correct one? Which one told the tale of what really happened that day and which ones were implanted into his skull? Which one would offer real closure and which one would only spread the pain of confusion even more?

He didn't know how he was going to do it, but...he needed to find out. He needed away to learn of what happened. If he had been this whole time, if he had been tricked, then...

No, he shouldn't think like that. His headache growing in power, he still tightened his grip on his head, as if to squeeze out those thoughts. It took him a while, but he believed he figured out what was really going on. He couldn't believe he didn't figure it out sooner. He was lucky he did, otherwise, he would have nearly went and made a huge mistake.

Rudy and Penny did...something to him. No, just Rudy; Penny was locked away during his last encounter with Rudy. His mind reeled back to when he had shot Rudy with that weapon to knock him down. He knew how clever Rudy could be. Had he done something to confuse him? Perhaps drawn something earlier that released some kind of gas? Maybe he pulled off some other kind of trick that resulted in such confusion?

That had to be what happened. There was just no other way. Nothing else that it could be. He was being tricked again. He clenched his teeth tightly, almost to the point of popping them out. Rudy Tabootie just didn't know when to quit, did he...?

Well he was going to show him. If he thought that getting blasted was so bad, if he thought that it was horrible to fall like that, then he was in for a surprise later on. He would show him real pain. He would show him true fear, what it's like to be trapped like a mouse. While he knew that Skrawl might not approve since it might contradict the plan. But for once, Snap didn't care. He deserved a bit of closure himself, and if he had to, he would hunt down Rudy and make him feel his wrath if it meant getting it. He wasn't sure if he could stand just sitting here and waiting. There was a part of him that just wanted to go. He could feel his mind's gears turning, telling him to usher forth with this plan, in spite of the risk.

It took him a while to stop himself, to force himself to settle down. With a pang of horror, he realized what he had almost done. In his near collision with an emotional outburst, he had almost violated Skrawl's plans just for his own sake. He felt great shame sizzle in his stomach and he bowed his head in sadness. How could he have thought to do something like that? Skrawl's plan would allow for his revenge to be completed in due time. He just needed to be patient.

Yet he almost decided to be greedy. Stupid... So stupid... He wanted to kick himself, but he was too frozen in his own thoughts to do anything. He remained on the ground, on his knees, as he let his thoughts, at last, come to settle down. Although frozen, he did have one positive realization during all of this: at least those disorienting and confusing thought questions from before had stopped.

"Snap!"

The small blue zoner nearly jumped at that voice. He recognized it as Skrawl's. He turned his head as he could see shadows moving along the ground. He could hear the heaviness that accompanied each of the large jellybean's footsteps. He watched as the door knob opened up, and he could see Skrawl's head peering in. He did not look pleased.

"Ah so this is where you have been!" Skrawl's voice was a growl. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Forgive me, boss." Snap lowered his head. He did not bother trying to get up. "I just needed some time alone and I..."

"Enough! You don't need to explain to me what happened!" Skrawl motioned his hand, indicating where he wanted Snap to go. Outside with him. "Come along! It's almost time for our next phase of the plan!"

Snap blinked a few times, at first confused. It took seconds for memories of the plan to come striking him with full force. He slapped himself in the face, gritting his teeth. Of course, how could he have forgotten? Quite a bit of time had passed and Rudy would likely be almost out of the pipe system by now, if all was going well. By standing around here, doing nothing but trying to sort out his own thoughts, he selfishly nearly brought down the plan as a whole.

He didn't speak a word as he jumped up to his feet. He dashed over to Skrawl as fast as his feet could carry him. He ignored the bang of the wall against when Skrawl slammed it shut. He understood why he was upset. The jellybean was just worried that they had blown their chance at stopping Rudy and Penny permanently. He had every right to be mad.

He exchanged an apologetic look to Skrawl, keeping his head low and body slightly bent forward, showing submission to the jellybean. He half-expected to be punished for what he had done, but Skrawl didn't seem interested in dwelling on the fact. He just pushed his large hand against him and nudged him forward, prompting him to start walking. The two of them began heading down the hallway, neither uttering a word.

It took a while, longer than Snap would have liked, before they reached their destination. They had entered into another hallway that was located higher up after a flight of stairs. Penny's cell was located in a room here, marked by a gold indention so that it would be easy to find. There were so many doors here, it would be so easy to get them mixed up.

They kept walking until they nearly reached the door. They stayed around ten feet away, staring at it intently. It was silent, but they both knew that Penny laid on the other side, possibly trying to find a way out. Of course she would. She was a clever girl. Always thinking, that one. She had been the main master behind behind...behind... Snap shook the thought out of his head as he looked up at Skrawl, awaiting orders.

Skrawl tilted his head to look down at him and he said, "You know what to do."

Snap nodded. He had rehearsed it over and over in his head so he understood exactly what his move was going to be. That didn't mean that he was fully confident. He had to be very careful not to allow his emotions cloud his judgment. He had to take care not to get himself too angry, for his next task would involve absolute control over his emotions, to put on a display that was convincing enough to fool Penny, the smartest of his two ex-best friends.

"Yes." He said at last, after a few moments of silence. "I do."

"I am counting on you, Snap." Skrawl spoke in a gentle voice. He cracked a small smile. "I'm sure you won't let me down."

Snap smiled back at his boss, his savior. He felt a sense of pride and happiness at pleasing Skrawl. He then looked back at the door. His smile vanished, replaced with a deep frown. He took in a deep breath and he began to make his way towards the door. It was now or never.

Time to see to it that the plan was sealed.

sss

Penny's mind was going several miles per hour as she tried to comprehend what she had learned.

Or rather, what she though she had learned. She had no proof or guarantee of it, but that suspicion continued to rise up inside of her. It clutched at her heart and stomach, making her feel sick. The implications of this rattled her and she found it too difficult to ignore.

She remembered the brief meeting she had with the memotrice earlier. She remembered what Thoughtless had said during said meeting. It had indicated something that wouldn't change too much, but it would still veer their plans into unknown territory. She had already known that the memotrice could alter memories. That was the whole reason it was deemed dangerous. But it seemed to have hinted at doing something that wasn't made aware earlier.

It might be using Skrawl. It might not have ever really joined up with Skrawl and was only using him as a stepping stone to get what it truly wanted. The beast did seem like the type that would do something like this. The memotrice was not a creature of remorse; it was created to be a monster. Even if there was no proof, was it any stretch that it would be using Skrawl like a toy? No, no there wasn't.

True, this didn't change too much. Controlled or not, Skrawl was still an enemy. He would have tried to capture them and harm them even if Thoughtless was never involved. And regardless of who was really in charge, the end result was that all three of him, she, Rudy, and Snap, had been captured. No matter which was pulling the strings, they were all still in big trouble.

But the thing that it did change was still important. It was not something that she could ignore, and it plagued her aching mind as she struggled to figure out what it could mean.

Under Skrawl, things had been simpler. It was easy to deduce what that jellybean would have done. There was no secrets that could be hidden about what he wanted. That jellybean had become obsessed with taking over ChalkZone. He would be using Thoughtless to achieve that goal.

But Thoughtless was an unknown factor. She and the others knew little about it outside of its powers and its penchant for spreading chaos using said powers. Turning friends against friends, family against family, altering the very reality of minds as they knew it. There was one thing that they never had figured out about it. What was its goal? What did this thing want with ChalkZone? Take over, destroy, or something else entirely? This unknown made it scariere knowing that the memotrice might be the one in charge.

What was even scarier was how easily and readily this thing would change memories without a second thought. She was untouched...or so she believed, but the memotrice had touched Rudy. It had confessed to messing with him. Now it might be lying. It might be just trying to scare her. But she couldn't shake off the fear that something happened to Rudy. And if it did...

She tried not to think about it. She tried not to fall into the despair that something happened. Rudy might be all right. He might be okay. The memotrice could be lying. It might just be trying to shake her up, make her more vulnerable mentally. And even if that wasn't the case and it really had been truthful, she couldn't allow this to stop her from trying to figure a way out to stop it. Since she still had the urge to do this, she realized, for certain, her memories must not have been altered yet.

She stretched her legs out, feeling her muscles going taut for a few seconds before she relaxed. She pulled her legs to herself and hugged them. She could feel the cold, metal bars behind her, the ones that held her in here and kept her from going anywhere. She tilted her head up and stared at the top of the cage. She took in a deep breath and she exhaled slowly.

She still wasn't entirely sure how she was going to get out. Although she deduced that the cage opened up at the top, that did little to help her out now. Her attempts earlier had failed. She just wasn't strong enough to break the lock, wherever it was, and she had nearly injured herself trying. If she along with her two friends had been locked in the same cage, then she might have been able to do it. But, as she realized, that was why they weren't stuck together to begin with. Skrawl and Thoughtless knew how well they worked as a team and separated them before they had that chance.

Well she and Rudy were separated. And Rudy might ahve been toyed with, a thought that crushed her heart. But...there was Snap... Perhaps he had escaped? Thoughtless didn't seem to confirm if he was caught or not. At least, not from what she could remember. Snap could find one of them and free them. And once they were together, they could find a way to deal with the memotrice and then Skrawl. A difficult task, she knew, but a necessary one. Otherwise, she had no idea what would happen to ChalkZone itself.

She lifted her head at the sound of the door opening up. She narrowed her eyes at it deeply, her lips curling back into a snarl. Whoever was coming in to taunt her, she was not going to allow them to hurt or break her so easily. She had a feeling it might be Skrawl, coming in here to mock her and her attempts at stopping him.

But who came in instead shocked her. Upon seeing the familiar white eyes, light blue leotard, and darker blue mask and cape, Penny instantly felt her emotions snap into the opposite region as her mouth curled upwards broadly.

"Snap?!" She cried out, elated. "Is that you?!"

Snap clenched his teeth tightly, looking left and right. He motioned with his hand rapidly, giving her a slightly terrified expression. "Keep it down!" He hissed through his bared teeth.

Penny felt like an idiot. Of course Snap would be careful. He was risking his neck being here, and she was fully aware that Skrawl or Thoughtless, or even a Beanie Boy or two, could show up at any moment. She smiled a bit sheepishly for a few seconds before she allowed a worried complexion make its way over her face.

She remained silent as Snap cautiously walked inside. He kept looking behind him, making sure he wasn't followed. He then shut the door, allowing it to click in place. He then turned his attention to her and he walked towards her slowly. He stared at her with wide, white worried eyes, his hands fumbling together nervously. His eyes appeared to ask a simple question: was he too late?

"I'm all right, Snap." Penny told him reassuringly. "No worse off than I was before." She winced slightly at one of the older wounds she had. She was glad that they hadn't been too irritated by her capture. "How did you get here?"

"It was not easy. You wouldn't believe how well Skrawl has this place guarded." Snap looked over at the door, clenching his teeth nervously. "I'm surprised I even got in here without being spotted. I guess I just outsmarted that jellybean, right?"

Penny got up from the ground. "Do you know how to get out of here?"

Snap shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't. I didn't get a good look around this place to really figure that out."

Penny nodded her head slowly. She didn't really expect Snap to know the answer to that. She just felt compelled to ask. They could always figure a way out on their own. With how large this place was, there would have to be a map somewhere, right? At least, just in case. It seemed like something Skrawl would do.

She took another look up towards the 'ceiling' of her cage. She narrowed her eyes into slits as she moved her pupils over the structure, from one side to the other. She then looked down at Snap. She wasn't entirely sure if it would work or not. Snap was not weak or anything, but she wasn't sure if their combined efforts without Rudy's help would do much to budge this door open. It was stuck in there real tight and the lock was quite strong. Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Hey, can you try to get this cage open?" Penny asked.

Snap looked up at the cage. He licked his lip once in determination before nodding his head. "I should think so. I managed to free Rudy earlier."

At this, Penny's eyes bulged. "You did?!" She could practically hear the elation oozing out of her mouth with those words. "Where is he?!" She cried excitedly. She looked at the door, expecting her friend to walk through it moments later. But when that happened, she turned her still-smiling face down to Snap, slightly weakened by the confusion.

"He's not coming." Snap said softly, his eyes lowering down. "He and I got separated." He fumbled with his hand a little, his gaze turning away. "He and I were going through the pipes, but...but a Beanie Boy came in and shot him and he...fell." He shut his eyes and a small tear began to trickle out of the corner of his eyes. "I'm sorry.. I-I don't know where he is..."

Penny felt as though something crashed on the inside of her. She took in a sharp breath as she stared at Snap in disbelief. She let his words repeat themselves over and over, along with the intermingling of other things that he didn't say, but might as well have said. She allowed its meaning to overcome her, and she tried her best not to cry. Yet her emotions were still causing her to tremble and she shook her head in desperation. She didn't want to believe that it was true.

Rudy... He couldn't be... Snap never said he was, but the tone of voice that he used, the description of falling, it made Penny realize that something big had happened to him. If he wasn't dead, than he was hurt badly. He needed help, and not even Snap knew just where he had ended up.

"I wanted to help him... but I couldn't. Too slippery, too far down..." Snap's voice got shaky, and his eyes glistened with more tears. "I-I tried.. I really tried..." He looked at her directly in the eyes. His mouth hung open and Penny could have sworn she could see the lower lip quivering. "Please..don't be mad at me... I tried to...I really..." He lowered his gaze and his shoulders shook. "I'm so sorry...!"

Penny took in a sharp gasp at this, staring Snap in shock. How...how could he think something like that? How could he even begin to think that she would blame him for what happened? She wanted to reach out and touch him, to pull him into a comforting hug and try her best to comfort him. Since she could not, she instead settled on the next best thing, and her soothing, reassuring voice filled his ears.

"It's all right, Snap. It's not your fault. Please...don't blame yourself. The only one who deserves blame is Skrawl and Thoughtless. It's their fault Rudy got hurt, not yours." Penny stared at the shaking, uncertain Snap, meeting him with a smile filled with sadness and sympathy and hope. "We will find Rudy, don't worry, Snap. It will be all right."

Snap looked comforted by her words. He wiped the tears from his eyes, rubbing them against his costume. "Thanks.." His voice was small and slightly cracked. But Penny could tell that he was sincere in that comment. "Yeah, we will find Rudy, somehow..." He gave her a partial smile, perhaps as a way of trying to reassure her now. "But first...I need to get you out of there."

Penny nodded her head in agreement. "Good idea."

She said nothing more as Snap went over towards her cage. He grabbed onto the bars and he climbed up at the top. She remained still as Snap went towards what she suspected was the lock. She couldn't really see what he was doing from this angle, but she saw no need to reposition herself just to watch. She remained still as she heard the jiggling and clanging of something hard, and then a loud click. She could see the top wobbled a little bit as Snap seemed to do something. He was positioning himself almost awkwardly and then...

The cage door was opened up. It slowly rose up into the air, creating a loud squeak as it did so. She flinched at this, but she knew it wasn't Snap's fault. He was moving quite slowly, but even then, he was having a hard time keeping the thing from being too loud. He was able to set it down carefully without making too much noise. But they both knew that if Skrawl or Thoughtless had heard this, they were in big trouble. They had to act fast before it was too late.

Snap helped Penny out of the cage. He grabbed her arm and let her use him as leverege. He pulled back, allowing her to climb out and on top of the cage. Penny took a moment to breathe, realizing that she was finally out of that wretching cage. She then turned her attention towards the door and made her way towards it after jumping off the cage.

"Wait! Let me look!" Snap rushed in front of her. He looked up at her with worried eyes. "I already lost Rudy. I'm not going to lose you, too."

Penny was touched by this, but she didn't want him to feel obligued to being the first one to open the door. She reached out towards him and started to speak. "Snap... You don't have to..."

Snap didn't answer her. He had already made his way towards the door, moving quite fast to beat her to it. Penny didn't even attempt to move. She just sighed softly and shook her head. She waited here while Snap checked to make sure the coast was clear. The door opened up and he peered out, looking left and then right. He then looked back at her, a smile on his face.

"The coast is clear. We just have to..."

Suddenly a large, orange clawed hand reached out and grabbed him. Snap let out a cry of surprise as he looked up to see who it was.

"Skrawl?! How did you find me?!" Snap's panicked voice was cut off with a loud growl from the jellybean.

Penny felt her heart race as she saw part of Skrawl through the open door way. She could see the rage in his eyes, his yellow teeth exposed in a growl. She was frozen for a few seconds, unable to believe what was happening. Then, her heart clenching, she rushed over towards the door, yelling at Skrawl to let her friend go.

She was not fast enough. Skrawl already had yanked the struggling Snap out of the room and the door slammed in her face. Penny let out a yelp as her face hit against the hard, cold surface, stumbling backwards. She held her nose, feeling something warm coming out of it. A trickle of blood. She paid little attention to it as she started to pound on the door as hard as she could.

"Let my friend go, Skrawl! Bring him back!" She cried out frantically. She pounded harder and harder. She tried opening the door, but Skrawl had locked it. "Let him go! Release my friend! Skrawl!"

But her cries fell on deaf ears. Skrawl didn't even bother replying to her. All he did was he struck Snap a few times, evidenced by the thuds and the cries of pain from her friend, and he began to tell him how he was a fool for thinking he could get away for long. Then, to her horror, she could hear Snap being dragged away down the hallway. Snap's cries grew louder in desperation. He called out for her, for Rudy, to help him, but there was nothing she could do.

Penny's blows slowly stopped as she felt herself sink down into the ground. She lowered her head, her eyes wide and in shock of what had happened. Snap had been taken from her. He was taken hostage again and who knows what Skrawl would do to him now. It... it was just not fair..."

But she did not allow herself to start crying, despite the despair clinging to her heart. There was still a chance to help her friend. She just had to keep believing and keep trying. She lifted up her head and she glared over at the direction that her friend had been dragged in. She snorted, her nostrils flaring up as anger began to creep into her mind. Skrawl was not going to get away with what he did.

sss

There it stood. He had finally arrived here. A part of him felt a sense of dread, and another a sense of anger. These two emotions swirled around inside of him, an unrelenting storm that made him nearly slam the car door as he stepped out. Every core of his body was shaking, his fists clutched tightly. He tried to calm himself down, but it was a futile effort.

Here in this building stood possibly the one person who knew about the attacks on the two children. The one person who might have had a hand in what happened.

He knew that Dr. Von Doktor was in there.

Mr. Tabootie knew it may have been foolish to come here alone. He realized he should have listened to his wife and stayed home and let the police handle it. He should have just called the police up and tell them of his suspicions. But..would they have listened? There was little evidence he had to connect this high profile man to such a crime. He knew there was really only one way to be sure if this man was involved or not, and that was to talk to him.

Not like he would confess of course, but if he spoke to him long enough, he might discover clues to what he might be up to. This was a trick he learned when dealing with Marty The Steer King and other meat competitors. Always look for ulterior motives and hidden meanings. One could tell a lot about a person by the way they spoke and their mannerisms.

He walked towards the building slowly, taking his time. He took in the sight of the massive building, towering over him. It brought back memories of when he, his whife, and son were taken here, back when they believed their son had discovered something special. It was disappointing when it was learned that it was a misundersatnding. But there was a chance that Dr. Von Doktor didn't see it that way.

Mr. Tabootie did his best not to show too much anger. He did not want to provoke the older man into a vicious argument, nor did he want to give him any reason to call security and have him kicked out. All he wanted to do was talk to him as civilly as possible. Even if this man could be behind what happened to Rudy and Penny, the last thing he wanted was for his emotions to get in the way. He didn't want to end up making things worse.

Taking in a deep breath, he increased his walking speed as he headed towards the doors. He pushed them open with little effort and headed down the hallway. He tried his best to ignore the familiar, uncomfortable smell and sight of this place as he made his way into the waiting room. He opened up the door and walked straight inside.

He made his way past the rows of chairs. There were a few other people in here. They didn't really pay him much mind, although of the men was looking at him with a strange expression, as if he wasn't sure if he looked familiar or not. Mr. Tabootie tried not to be bothered by him as he got up to the counter were the receptionist was sitting at.

"Yes?" The receptionist asked as she filed her nails. "How may I help you?"

Mr. Tabootie said, "I would like to see Dr. Von Doktor."

The receptionist stared at him in surprise, like he had grown another head. She then placed the file down and she looked at the calender. She looked around for a few moments, but soon stopped and looked up. "I'm sorry. He's very busy lately. Would you mind waiting? He has an opening in a few days. If you'd like, I could squeeze you in and..."

"No...I mean..." Mr. Tabootie breathed in and out slowly, trying to keep himself from getting too worked up. He finally said, "Yeah sure, but is it okay if I stay here, just in case he has an opening now?"

"It's unconventional but I don't see why not. Just have a seat over there and if it looks like he has an opening today, I will inform you." The receptionist told him as she took out a pen to mark the day.

Mr. Tabootie gave her a small, meaningless smile. "Thank you." He said dryly as he turned around and took a seat in one of the nearest chairs. He placed his elbows on his thighs, rested his chin in his hands, and he did the only thing he could do now. He waited.


	18. Deceit And Confusion

Rudy grunted as he grabbed on the ledge. He pulled himself up, mustering as much strength as he could. He let out a few grunts through his efforts, his feet slipping on the pipe's backside as he tried to get on it. It took a lot of effort, but he soon managed to pull it off. Above him, he could see another pipe. He clenched his teeth tightly as he realized this was going to require a jump. He stood up, wobbling a little as he nearly fell. He moved his arms, hands clenched tightly, back and forth as his legs bent. Then with as much power as he could push through his legs, he jumped, his hands stretching out for the pipe.

He managed to grab onto it, but his face slammed against the pipe. He pulled his head back and, holding himself up with one arm, he used his other hand to rub his face a little. He was surprised there was no blood coming out of his nostrils. He had hit against the pipe pretty hard. He quickly shrugged it off as he turned his attention back to climbing.

After some more effort, grunting, slipping, wriggling, the boy managed to climb up this next pipe. He took in a few breaths as he stared down at how far he's climbed up. Down below, he could practically see darkness all the way down, and all those pipes that he climbed. It was a dizzying thing to see and he nearly collapsed against the pipe in exhaustion.

He hadn't been able to open up the rusted pipe like he thought he would. No matter how hard he hit it, it just wouldn't budge. It was as if the rust itself was made of hard stone. He didn't waste too much time trying to open it up, knowing that he'd just waste his time. So instead, he focused on climbing up the pipes. They seemed sturdy enough for him, and he has climbed up things before. This should be a piece of cake.

Or at least, so he thought. As he climbed up, he did run into some trouble. Falling nearly happened a few times, and he had some trouble getting a grippage. It was a constant struggle getting up, and looking down was problematic, too. He had to turn his head away to avoid getting a dizzy sensation and falling over.

At least he was getting near his target now. He wasn't going to where Snap shot him. He didn't want to risk it. He had no idea if his brainwashed friend was waiting for him, ready to shoot again. No, he needed to go elsewhere, and thankfully, on his way up, he did notice something shiny. As he got closer, he realized it was some kind of barred opening to a shaft. He guessed that the pipe had been removed. He turned out to be partially correct when he saw the torn pipe there. He winced at the jagged edges, but at least they were a bit far so he could squeeze in without getting himself hurt.

He made his way over. He just needed to climb over a few more pipes. At least he didn't have to climb up too much, and soon he would get out of this dank, horrible smell. He had gotten used to it, but every so often, he'd get a whiff of something and he would be reminded of where he was.

Soon all he needed to do was cross a small bridge of thin pipes pressed closely together. He took in a deep breath and he carefully set his foot down. As soon as he determined it was fine, he put his full weight on it and he began to walk over. These pipes were not too slippery, although he could feel some slight wobbling. They were clearly weaker than the other pipes and he made sure to move himself quickly towards the pipe on the other side. As soon as he reached it, he grabbed on just behind the jagged edges and pulled himself over so he was sitting on it, legs splayed at his sides, as if he were riding a horse.

He then began to slip himself to the other side, stepping on a very thin pipe just behind him. He used this pipe as leverage and he began to make his way over, nice and easy and slow. He stared at his intended destination just before him, licking his lips in determination. Soon his hands began to feel the ragged, razor edges and he winced as he nearly pricked his finger. Knowing that he had little space behind him and had little leverage, for the remainder of the time, which thankfully was short, he had to balance himself on the pipe, holding his arms outward and carefully inched his way to the left.

It took a while, and he nearly fell backwards once on his way over, but he did eventually make it over. He bent his legs and jumped over, landing on the small platform that was here, likely left there by whoever had ripped off this pipe. He wasn't sure how much sense it made, but he didn't care. He just took a moment to appreciate that his ground was a wooden platform and not slippery, rusted metal pipes. He ignored the slight wobbling as he turned his attention to the ventilation lid. He grabbed onto the ledge around it, ignoring the cobwebs and slipperiness, and peered inside.

He couldn't see too much. He could see there were some faded lights and moving shadows. He thought he would see details of something square-ish and barry, if that is the right term for it. And shadow, he could tell there was someone moving in there. Small, very vertical in shape. He pressed himself closer, trying to see through the thin spaces between the bars. It took a while, but he eventually saw enough information to identify who it was.

"Penny...?" Rudy whispered softly. He didn't know how, but he had reached the holding chamber of his best friend. His heart racing in excitement, he made his move.

He grabbed onto the metal edges and he yanked them as hard as he could. He let out a groan and grunt as he struggled to get it open. He soon exhaled loudly and leaned himself forward when it wouldn't budge. He took in a few breaths, then he grabbed again and tried once more. He yanked back as hard as he could, and soon he could feel the screeching of it coming loose. Soon it was broken free from where it was originally and he held it in his hands. He stared at it for a few moments before he tossed it away and began to crawl through.

It seemed that his noise-making had attracted Penny's attention. She was standing in front of the ventilation opening a few feet away. He could tell by the way her legs shook and were hunched that she thought someone dangerous was coming through. He worked his way through the narrow opening as quickly as he could, hoping to get through before Penny had a chance to take any drastic actions.

"Who is there?!" Penny demanded.

"Penny! Wait!" Rudy cried when he saw Penny hold up what looked like a long pole. "It's me! Rudy!"

Penny immediately lowered the weapon and her voice went from tense and guarded to shock and welcoming. "Rudy...?" She immediately came closer, dropping down onto her knees and looking in. Upon seeing him, her eyes immediately lit up. "Rudy!" She crawled closer and said, "Here, I'll help you!"

Rudy reached his arms out towards her. Not an easy task in this narrow space. He could feel Penny grab onto his arms and held on tightly. She then started to pull him back as hard as she could. Rudy wriggled his body forward to try to assist her. He pushed his legs out from behind him, his feet scraping against the ground, trying to move forward as quickly as he could. It took a while, especially with how tightly the walls seemed to hug him, but with one hard pull, Penny yanked Rudy out. The boy let out a cry as he hit against the ground, but soon he was back on his feet.

After brushing himself off, Rudy turned his attention to Penny. He looked at her up and down, making sure she was all right. He was relieved to see that she didn't appear to be hurt worse than she already was. But he could see the fear and worry in her eyes. He wasn't sure if it was only for him, but a part of him told him that there was a lot more to it than him. It made him wonder if Skrawl or the memotrice had bothered Penny and what they had said to her. Had she learned something unsettling about their plans?

"Rudy, how did you get here?" Penny asked in a soft voice. "Did you really come in here through the pipes?"

Rudy nodded. "It wasn't easy, but I managed."

"How did you know I was here?" Came her next question. There was something a little off by the way she said this, but Rudy paid it no mind.

"I didn't." Rudy told her. "I needed a way back in, and I saw this and..." He trailed off. He took a moment to stare at Penny. He couldn't stop the smile from climbing up in the corner of his eye. He took a step forward, spreading his arms out and put them around her. "I'm so glad to see you. I'm so glad you're all right."

Penny froze for a moment, and then gave him a hug, albeit weak, back. "Yeah... I'm glad to see you're okay, too..."

Rudy took notice of her demanor and he pulled back. He stared at her, noticing her expression. She was worried about something, he could tell. He bit his lip, contemplating if he should ask her what the problem was. It might be important, and he had a feeling if he ignored it, he could end up in big trouble.

But he realized there was little time to sit around and chat. He and Penny needed to get out of here quickly. He had no idea when Skrawl or the memotrice or Snap would show up. He didn't know exactly what that jellybean had planned for them. He knew that Skrawl wouldn't just lock them away and leave them be. No, he would do something much worse. Especially if he sees that Penny was out of the cage. They needed to use this chance to flee. If they missed this chance and Skrawl or the memotrice caught them... He didn't want to know what the consequences would be.

He thought about going back through the pipes, but he soon decided that might not be a good option. It was hard enough going up. He didn't want to imagine how it would be going down. Plus, where would the exit be? He didn't now that place very well and it was just too dark, especially with no magic chalk to use. So that meant the only way out was...

"The door is locked."

Rudy froze before he could reach the door. He looked over at Penny, who gazed at him sadly. "What?"

Penny let out a sigh. "I said it's locked." She walked over towards it swiftly. She reached out and she grabbed onto it and tried to turn it. It jiggled and clanged, but did not open. "See?"

Rudy could feel his spirits dropping rapidly at this. Now what were they going to do? He bit his lip as he looked back where he came. That was too big of a risk. He didn't know if he would be able to find another way out, and while he could probably try to climb back through that hole, it was just not worth it. Especially if Snap set up a trap for them there. But the door won't open and he doubted that he and Penny could break it down themselves. This left only one conclusion surging through his head.

He and Penny were trapped.

But..no... There had to be a way out of here. He just needed to look at this from a new angle. Perhaps if he tried looking around there, maybe they could find something that they could use to loosen the door open. He knew that it had its own share of risks, but if it meant having a chance at freedom, he was willing to take it.

He began to rummage through the items that were in here. There were some shelves in here and some boxes. Some were dusty, as if they hadn't been used in a while. He wasn't sure if they would have anything that he and Penny could use, but he wouldn't know unless he looked. He dropped down onto his knees and grabbed onto a box and flipped it open. He looked at its contents for a few seconds, not noticing anything that could help. He pushed his hands into the box and he began to rummage through it.

He was soon joined by Penny. She got down onto her knees in front of him and she peered inside and began to look around as well. Her hands pushed the various items aside, most of them looking like nonsense and didn't seem to have much of a purpose. Judging from her expressions, Rudy guessed that Penny might recognize some of this stuff. If any of them would be able to find something useful in this pile of rubble, she would.

So far, neither of them were turning up anything useful. Most of these seem to be parts to something, but most were so old and rusty, they would not be of much use to them. Rudy clenched his teeth as he stared into the box for a few moments, his eyes scanning around. It was like one big jumble of colors and shapes, and after a while, they almost seemed to swirl together. He felt a bit dizzy and wobbly, and he had to shake his head to regain his senses. He looked back at the box, biting his lip. He had wonder, would they ever find anything useful in here?

He returned to rummaging. He knew that sitting around doing nothing would not help. Surely, there had to be something in here that he and Penny could use. Something...anything...

As they kept searching, Rudy could hear Penny's small voice speak up.

"I hope Snap is all right."

Rudy could feel a pang in his chest. His heart tightened up and he felt a nauseaous feeling. He lifted his head and turned it towards her. He could see the worried expression shining those eyes of hers. He took in a deep breath and he sighed softly. "Yeah...me too."

"Skrawl took him somewhere... I don't know where..." Penny said, her breath slightly shaky. "I just hope that..we will be able to find Snap and help him."

"Yeah...me too..." Rudy said quietly.

The thought of Snap made his heart sting. He couldn't ever forget the look in the zoner's eyes when he had shot him and knocked him down. He could never forget that horrible laugh he gave as he did so. The idea of having go up against his best friend made him feel sick. It was not something he ever thought would happen. And yet Skrawl and that memotrice made it happen. They brainwashed his best friend. They weren't going to get away with it. He swore it.

He wasn't sure how he was going to break the news to Penny, but it seemed like she already knew. That sad look in her eyes, the way she had spoken, yeah she must have known about Snap's 'condition', courtesy of Skrawl and the memotrice. He wondered how badly Snap was forced to hurt her. He sucked his lip. He could only hope that the reveal was more gentle on her than it was for him.

He returned to rummaging through the items. A little more slowly with the uncomfortable thoughts weighing down on him, but he was making good progress. He continued to look through, his eyes shifting around as he struggled to find something of use. Penny continued looking as well, but like him, she didn't seem to have much good progress. Regardless, they continued on looking, both hoping that they would find a way out of this mess sooner or later.

Just then, they heard a rattling sound. They turned their heads over to see what it was. They could see that the door was moving now. The knob turning slowly, the door easing open cautiously. They watched in silence, holding their breaths as they waited for the person on the other side to come in. There was no point in trying to put the stuff away; they would not make it in time. All they could do was just hold still and wait as the door opened up all the way, revealing the person on the other side.

It was Snap.

Rudy's eyes bulged open as he locked eyes with the zoner. He could see that glint in them he did before, but his facial expression was different, holding none of the malice he had seen before. His body tensed up, his teeth clenching tightly. He had no idea what Snap was sent in here for, but he knew he couldn't keep his guard down. He stood up, adopting a somewhat defensive posture as he stare at Snap. He turned to Penny, expecting her to do the same.

To his surprise and confusion, Penny's posture was much more relax. There was no tension on those eyes. Instead she looked almost...relieved to see Snap. A little too relieved for the situation before them. He couldn't help but feel so confused. Didn't Penny know what was going on? Why wasn't she preparing herself for a fight?

Rudy turned his attention back to Snap. He gave a soft glare at him, showing him that he wasn't going to fall for his tricks again. He expected Snap to give a smirk back, but all he did was stare at them with that same face from before. One that appeared to be filled with worry and concern and relief. Normally such a look was welcoming, and it would inspire him to come over and give his friend a hug. But given the situation, all it did was make him tense up more.

"Rudy...what's wrong..?" Penny whispered softly as she took notice of his posture.

Rudy stared at her in disbelief. How could she be asking something like that? Was she really...

His train of thought was interrupted when Snap suddenly rushed forth. Rudy tensed his body up to prepare for an attack, but instead of colliding with him, Snap did something else that took him off guard.

He ran straight for Penny. Rudy's eyes bulged and he lifted up his hand to call out for Snap to stop, but he wasn't able to do so in time. The zoner lunged at Penny. Rudy watched, expecting Snap to pull back a fist to punch her, but instead he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. He started to shiver as if afraid. Penny looked down at him sympathetically as she pulled him into a hug.

"Oh Snap..." Penny whispered as she rubbed her head against him. "How did you escape?"

"Skrawl looked away and I seized the chance. Kept running, kept trying to find you again..." Snap snuggled up beside her as much as he could. "He...he was going to hurt me..."

"It's all right now. He's not going to get you again. I promise." Penny told him in a gentle voice.

Rudy stared at this scene in shock, unable to move or speak for what felt like minutes. All he could do was just stand there and watch as Snap held onto Penny in a hug. And Penny... she...she didn't know what was going on. She didn't know about Snap being brainwashed. Why else would she be hanging onto Snap, trying to reassure him like this? He thought that she knew, but she didn't, but...but if she had seen Snap earlier, wouldn't she have figured it out?

Rudy could feel a headache surging through his skull. He could feel his heart begin to pound heavily in his chest, his teeth clenching, breaths seething in and out quickly as he struggled to try to keep himself calm and not react out of too strong of emotion. But he wasn't sure how long he could hold out. He stared at the scene with bulging eyes, mixed with shining fear. When he was not able to stay silent anymore, when he was broken out of his shocked state, he immediately began to rush over towards them.

"No! Penny! Get away from him!" Rudy called out. "He's not what he seems!"

At this, the two looked over at him. Penny was in disbelief while Snap put on a distraught expression.

"Wh-What do you mean, Bucko...?" Snap whispered in a low voice. "How could you say that?"

"Yeah, Rudy. What's the matter with you? This is Snap, remember?" Penny narrowed her eyes at Rudy. "Your best friend, the last I checked."

Rudy pointed a finger at Snap. "He's been brainwashed by that memotrice!"

"That's impossible!" Penny cried. "He was here not too long ago and he freed me! If he were under their control, then how would he have been able to help me?"

"He's deceiving you! Get away from him!" Rudy felt bad about how high his voice was raising, and he felt bad for scaring Penny like this. But he had to get her to see. He had to get her away from Snap before he tried something. He knew Snap couldn't have been that easily or quickly. He was still under those zoners' control. Why couldn't Penny see that?

Penny still refused to move. She narrowed her eyes further as she pulled Snap in for another hug. The zoner looked shaken, at least to Penny. She looked down at him sadly before lifting her head up to shoot a glare at Rudy. "How do I know you aren't the one whose memory was altered...?"

Rudy felt a sharp gasp shoot through his throat. Did...did she really just say that? He could feel his heart begin to break. How could Penny say such a thing? "Penny..." He took a small step foward. "Please... I-I'm fine." He put his hands to himself. "He's the one who was changed." He pointed at Snap, though less accusatory than before. "I'm not saying it was his fault. But Penny...he was forced to hurt me. He knocked me down.. He was forced to betray me..."

Penny's glare softened up just a tad as she turned her head down to look at Snap. "Is this true?"

Unsurprisingly, Snap shook his head. "He's lying! I never did that! The...the memotrice...it must have gotten him!" Snap looked at Rudy with wide, fright-filled eyes. "He was probably sent here to trap us!"

"No!" Rudy cried. "Please, Penny... I-I didn't..."

But Penny didn't seem keen on listening to him anymore. She glanced sadly at Snap and turned a hardened glare over at Rudy. There was some level of sadness in those eyes, but it also had some sort of grim tint to it. Penny began to approach him, her body adopting a defensive stance, her hands raising up. Rudy took a few steps away from her, his eyes widening.

"Penny..." Rudy whispered as he felt his heart race. His body arched and his teeth clenched defensively.

"I'm sorry, Rudy." Penny said. Her voice was filled with regret and sadness. "But...I have no choice..." Before Rudy knew it, Penny charged at him.

It took only seconds for Penny to collide with Rudy. There was a loud thud and a cry of pain from Rudy as he was forced into the ground. He felt his back slam against the cold hard ground as Penny weighed him down. She gripped his shoulders and pushed him down, trying to keep him from getting up. Rudy turned his head to the side, gritted his teeth, and stared up at Penny.

She didn't look deranged. She didn't look as if she had been brainwashed. Rudy couldn't really spend much time thinking about this. Right now, it didn't really matter to him why Penny was doing this. Right now, he had to try to get out of here. If he allowed Penny to hold him down for too long, then Skrawl or the memotrice might come in, see what's happening, and they would... He let out a yell of frustration as he began to push back against Penny, trying to force her off.

As if in desperation, Penny started to press her nails against his shoulders. Rudy's eyes widened at this and he let out a yelp as a pain began to spread through his shoulders. He looked up at Penny, feeling a slight sense of betrayal as she did this to him. He couldn't tell if this was on purpose or if it was just a frantic act by her to keep him down. Whatever it was, it resulted in him feeling a pang in his chest and he felt an energy start to rush through him. He wriggled one of his feet backwards and he slammed it against Penny's stomach.

Rudy rolled over onto his stomach and started to crawl towards the door, which was still open. His racing mind kept pleading for him to move faster. Instincts overtook him and he struggled to try to rush out of the door before Penny could grab him again. But he wasn't quick enough. As soon as he grabbed onto the door, he could feel Penny grab one of his legs and yank it back. He let out a cry as he slipped up on the ground, his face smashing against the hard surface.

"Rudy, I'm sorry, but this is for your own good!" Penny told him as she yanked his arms behind his back and secured them there. As Rudy jerked from side to side, Penny turned her head to Snap and called out to him. "Get some rope! We need to keep him from going to Skrawl or Thoughtless and warning them of our escape!" Rudy guessed that Thoughtless was the memotrice.

"I'll get right on that, Buckette!" Snap scurried away to the open box.

"Wait! Stop! Please! Y-You're making a big mistake!" Rudy called out, hoping that Penny would listen to him. "You've got to stop this, Penny! Please! If you do this, you're going to regret it!"

Penny apparently took this as a threat. She pushed him down a little harder and said, "I know you're still in there, Rudy. I just wish that you could understand that I'm just trying to help you."

Rudy felt his heart speeding up speed as he heard Snap coming back. He started to wriggle harder on the ground, hoping that he could, somehow, crawl away before Penny had a chance to use that rope on him. But with a shout from Penny, Snap was upon him. He gripped onto him and held him down firmly, holding his arms in place. Struggle as he might, Rudy was not able to jerk his arms away, and he could feel the rope wrapping around his limbs. Penny looped and zigzagged the rope until his arms were trapped behind his back. Penny released him and moved away, as if to check to make sure they were good and tight.

Rudy tried to get his arms free. He pulled left and right. He tried to get his right arm free, and then his left. He pulled and yanked with increasing strength. But his efforts were futile. He ended up pulling so hard that he nearly felt his arm leaving its socket. Even then, as he winced in pain, he knew he wasn't going to get freed. He turned his head and looked up at Penny with wide, pleading eyes, but she could only stare down at him sadly. Rudy attempted to get away, but Penny leaned against him, using her weight to hold him in place.

"How are we going to transport him with us?" Snap asked as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "He's a bit big, and with him squirming around like that, he would make it more difficult for us to carry him." He paused for a moment, and his eyes widened, as if something clicked in his head. "We also need to make sure he doesn't try to call for help." He looked at Penny as he said this. "He will draw Skrawl and Thoughtless right to us!"

"You're right..." Penny breathed. She looked down at Rudy, biting her lip. She then turned to the box. "I think I found something in here that could work..."

Realizing what they were about to do, Rudy began to thrash on the ground wildly. "No! Don't! Please don't!" His voice was filled with fear and desperation. "Please not that! Please!"

He couldn't allow it to happen. He couldn't let them do this to him. If he couldn't talk, and he couldn't move his arms, he'd be helpless. He wouldn't be able to continue warning Penny. He wouldn't be able to draw attention to whatever Snap was going to do. Penny would think he was just begging to be let go or issuing threats or something. He needed to do something to keep her from gagging him.

He soon saw her approaching with a long piece of cloth. He shook his head in desperation, calling out to Penny for her to stop. She just stared at him sadly as she knelt down beside him, Snap holding him down in place. Rudy tried to turn his head and bite at Snap to make him let go, but he stayed out of his range. He looked up and saw that Penny had stretched the cloth out, showing how long it was. She looked at it and then at Rudy. She gave him a sad expression, showing him that she really didn't want to do this. Rudy tried to talk her out of it, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Penny pushed the cloth in.

Rudy immediately jerked his head back and side to side, trying to avoid the gag. He wasn't able to resist for long when he felt warm hands against his head. Snap had grabbed onto him and was holding his head still for Penny. Rudy let out a series of muffled cries and protests as Penny applied the gag. He kicked his feet out behind him frantically, trying to get Snap off of him. His legs missed entirely and soon Penny had secured the cloth behind his head tightly. She double knotted it to make sure that it wouldn't slip off and she then moved her hand away.

Rudy disliked the taste of the cloth in his mouth and he struggled to get it out. Nothing he did worked and he ended up working his tongue over the cloth more, tasting it further. He wretched and shook his head. But no matter how hard he shook his head, the cloth stayed put.

He looked up at Penny with widened eyes. He felt a sense of helplessness wash over him as he realized the position he was in. Though futile, he yelled at Penny, trying to warn her of the mistake she made and how it was Snap who was brainwashed. But none of his words were getting to Penny. Not that she could understand him at this point.

"We'll need to move him somehow." Penny spoke, her voice saddened. She looked down at the other boxes in the room. "I'll see if we can build something to get out with." She said. "Make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

"Sure thing!" Snap said.

Rudy narrowed his eyes as Snap walked up to him slowly. Penny wasn't looking, so Snap was no longer attempting to fake an expression. The one he was showing him right now, filled with contempt, contorted in a twisted smile, was real. Rudy let out a series of muffled curses as he tried to get at Snap. He just ended up making himself look pretty pathetic.

Snap chuckled at his attempts to get closer. "Struggle all you want to. You aren't going to get away this time..." His voice was soft enough that Penny could not hear, but loud enough so that Rudy could detect it.

Rudy screamed as loud as he could through the gag, "Let me go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Bucko." Snap spat at him, his face wrinkling in disgust. "You and Penny are not escape justice this time. I know you two think you had forgotten about how you had knocked me out with those cookies and then performed experiments on me." Rudy stared at Snap in confusion at this. The zoner took this as admission to guilt as he smiled. "Yes, Rudy, I remember everything you did to me. You and Penny... I trusted you, but I see that you two were only using me. Well then..." Snap leaned in closer and whispered into his ear. "...if you want to play that game... I'm all for it..."

Rudy widened his eyes in horror at this. He struggled harder to get free, letting out a series of loud, muffled cries. Snap just chuckled at this as he stood there and watched him.

sss

Reggie looked at his dad warily, unsure of what to make of this new demeanor that he was displaying. He was used to his father being a rather calm, straight-to-the-point kind of guy. But now, it was like he was a whole different person.

It was scary, really. Normally, he was the one with the attitude problem. It was normally he who would want to do something to seek justice for what he had considered a wrong. It was he who would be pacing around angrily, trying to come up with ways to come out on top. He was the most dominant student in his class and he did whatever he could to keep it that way. He needed to maintain dominance. That was the only way life would ever work out for him.

But seeing his dad doing this... his own father who was usually more level-headed than him as he would grudgingly admit, it left him feeling uncomfortable inside. He found his hand against his stomach, gently rubbing it as he took all of this in. He did not dare speak a word as he watched his father rummage through some stuff in the dressers, pulling out some clean suit and pants.

He didn't want to say anything. He didn't dare speak a word to interrupt his father. He was too afraid of what his dad might say to him. Even though he knew that his dad was just defending him, even though a part of Reggie did appreciate this and felt miffed at being wrongfully accused, he couldn't help but feel a pang of worry as he saw his father like this. He couldn't help but begin to wonder if his dad was starting to take this a little far. Those parents did have a right to be angry at his own accusations...right?

According to his father, this did not seem to be the case. He wasn't sure how civil his dad really was with the parents, but he could tell, from the expression on his face, that he didn't take the meeting too well. He grumbled to himself about how they must be hiding something, and how they weren't going to keep it that way for long, that he was going to do something about it. Reggie hadn't spoken a word even then; the sound of his dad saying such things made him shudder. He couldn't help but wonder if his dad was going to shoot a glare in his direction, his pupils piercing into his own, enough to make him fall down.

Reggie thought back to Rudy and Penny. He felt a pang, a mixture of two actually. One was anger. They were hiding something and all he wanted to know was what it was. They could have been doing something really dangerous that could affect others. While he might be a bully and proud of it, it wasn't like he'd ever want anything seriously bad to happen to himself or others. He wouldn't want things to go that far, and he did feel rightfully miffed when Rudy and Penny would not tell him what was wrong. They saw that light. They know what it was, and for them to not tell him what it was...

But at the same time, he did feel some guilt. He hadn't meant to hurt them that badly. He had only wanted information, but he had let his emotions and desperation get in the way, and he ended up causing them so much pain. He could understand why the parents would think he did something else, and he could understand his father's anger about that. Though Reggie knew that he could start to mend things if he apologized, he wasn't sure if he ever would; he had too much pride to admit when he was wrong.

"Here."

Reggie was stirred from his thoughts when his father tossed him a shirt and pants. They were around his size, though a little fancier than what he would normally wear. He was tempted to raise his nose in disgust at them, but he resisted; worried that his dad react poorly to that. He grabbed onto the shirt and lifted it up. "What do you need me dressed in this for?" He asked.

"We're going down to the town counsel house." His father replied. His tone was somewhat embittered. It was difficult to say if he was feeling any better or not. "I called a meeting."

Reggie felt a jolt in his chest at this. His mind swirled. Did his father really call a meeting to talk about Rudy and Penny's parents? Even he would consider this going a little too far. He bit his lip nervously, feeling a sickness in his stomach. He fought against that toxic feeling to keep himself from throwing up. When he found his voice, he said, "Wh-Whatever for, father...?"

His dad's reply was different than he had expected. "We need to discuss what is happening. If those parents aren't the ones responsible... Then we have a problem."

Reggie blinked at this. He hadn't expected his dad to change his mind so quickly. Perhaps he had cooled down enough to realize how silly he was being during his period of anger? It seemed that way. Reggie felt a little more relaxed knowing that his dad was entering a more rational, understanding state of mind.

But worry still clung to his chest. He hadn't thought about it too much, but the idea of someone out there, going around hurting people, it left him feeling at unease. No, worse than that. He was utterly terrified. He wasn't sure if he could walk down the street anymore without worry of being attacked. After all, Rudy and Penny were hurt in one of their own backyards, and nobody witnessed anything. What if this person came for him next? What if they hurt him worse?

He realized that it must have to do with that light. Rudy and Penny saw it, and they dismissed it... and now whatever or whoever came from that light had targetted them. Reggie wasn't sure how realistic or believable this was, but in the moment, he didn't care. All he knew for certain is that Rudy and Penny should have spoken the truth earlier, but now because of their unwillingness to speak, the whole town might be in danger of some crazed maniac going around, beating people up.

There wasn't much that could be done now except have this meeting. He wasn't sure if any of the grown ups could think of something, but at least people would be aware of the problem. And hopefully, whoever or whatever was done this would be caught and brought to justice. Then the city of Plainsville would be safe again.

Reggie said not a word as he followed his dad solemnly out to the car.

sss

Hmm, now this looks interesting...

That was Thoughtless's first, well, thought when it laid his brown eyes upon one of the other books. It hadn't noticed this one before, and it was surprised that it took it this long to realize that this was here. Perhaps this might be what it was looking for after all. Oh the other books were quite useful to get it started. But this... Yes, this might be what it truly wanted.

It had a feeling that Skrawl would have lots of information. He had certainly seemed like the type to horde information, especially considering his obsession with ruling over this chalky world. It knew that staying here long enough would ultimately pay off, and now it was approaching the proof of that. It would keep the information it had read before stored in its mind. After all, they're important too. But it needed to save room for this. The big guns, as it'd like to call it.

The book was pushed far back, crammed up against the wall, behind some of the books there. It approached slowly, moving its head in so that it could look inside. It peered into the dark shadows, its pupil moving around as it looked at the details. It recognized this book from the slight reddish glow and the almost welcoming sparkles. It reached in with its food and pulled it out slowly.

Thoughtless examined the book. The cover reminded it of that one book from before. The gem or crystal one. It couldn't think of the title off the top of its head. But that wasn't important right now. What was, was this book right here that it held in its talons. The other books were simply small fries. Books filled with metaphors or small bits of facts that may or may not prove useful. Books of phrases that it should probably heed.

But this is the book that it truly required. This was the book that was going to truly make this all worthwhile. It couldn't help but smile, its beak stretching out to its sides. It couldn't stop the small chuckle from eminating from its throat. It didn't know why Skrawl had it stashed away in the back, but perhaps that was because Skrawl realized that it was dangerous.

Oh, if only he knew to throw it out...

Thoughtless moved away from the shelf, skipping along the ground as it struggled to hold the book and walk at once. It soon settled down on its nest once more. The other two books that it was mostly interested in, including the one about gems or cystals, laid there with it. Now the third book was dropped in place, making a loud thud as it hit against the straw-like material. It settled down onto the ground, bending its neck forward so it could peer more closely at the pages before it. Lifting up its foot, its talons began to push the pages to the side, flipping through them as it struggled to find one particular page.

Its eyes caught sight of something. It immediately stopped and it backtracked a couple pages to locate the one it had just passed by. The page itself had some decorative lettering, like one might find in a medievel book. The information written on here was scrawled sloppily, and was almost unreadable even to those who understood this langauge. Well, that wasn't a problem for a zoner like Thoughtless, who had pretty good vision. It read the lettering carefully.

'History of Weaponry' it read across the top. Pictured was a long, sparkling blade with embedded diamonds. Yes, it was getting a little closer. But it wasn't quite there yet. It needed to read along a little more. What it wanted was among this chapter. But how far down would it be? Only one way to find out.

Thoughtless started flipping through the chapter slowly, taking its time. It looked over the information, but mostly skimmed it. It wasn't interested in knowing every bit of history or how some of these weapons were formed or how many were killed. No, it was after something much better. For it wasn't numbers that it was interested in. It was progress. It wanted progress, efficiency, something straight to the point. Statistics were good, but it didn't need to read page after page of them. Where was that information that it truly needed?

Was it here? Yes, it was here. It had almost flipped the page after it, but here it was. It was in the fifth section of this chapter. There were a few paragraphs dedicated to one type of weapon. Something that didn't look like a weapon at first glance, but to those who know more about it, it was among one of the most dangerous weapons ever to be created.

The section had a simple, three word title.

'The Red Chalk'.

Its eyes twinkled when it saw these three words. The same three words it had been trying to find for a while. And next to it, a picture of confirmation. A photo of red chalk. The red on this page seemed to glow, a statement of the power the red chalk held, but also intermixed with other things. Stuff that it alone may know, but others would overlook.

Thoughtless wanted read all of these paragraphs. It wanted to search through its contents, look around and find out what it wanted to know. There was something it just...needed to know. It heard about it. It saw evidence for it. But before it could even be conclusive, it...it just needed to read about it. Memories weren't always so accurate, a cold hard fact that it had learned very quickly. But the written record...that couldn't be a fallacy. Not when it's a historical document, the writing down of things that came to pass.

If it turned out to be correct, then it would need to add on a few...things. It had some extra things to take care of. It knew that the task ahead, if that is the case, would be difficult. But, to achieve what it needed to in the end, it would be worth it. It could just feel it in its bones.

But...not now. Despite the urge, Thoughtless could not read more now. It had this strong feeling that Skrawl might show up at any time. Skrawl would intervene with the reading. Judging from his personality, Skrawl might be in his 'go go go' state. That was how he was with the plan with the robot, as it recalled as it searched his memories. No doubt he would get like the again.

Giving a sigh, it took a moment to stare down at the books it had gathered. The two older ones were pressed on top of one another near a pile of straw that it had set up. It then looked down at the book it was now holding in its talons. It closed it and pushed it over, letting it slide over until it hit against the other two books. It walked over and jumped up into the air. Using the few seconds it had, it used its feet to claw at the straw, knocking it over. This caused straw to spill all over the books, successfully sealing them up inside.

As soon as it was finished using its head to smooth out the straw, it heard footsteps coming its way. It moved its head to the side and noticed that it wasn't Skrawl like it thought it would be, but one of the Beanie Boys. This took it by surprise as it never seen any of the Beanie Boys walking around before. It shrugged this off immediately and nodded its head in acknowledgement and addressed the Beanie Boy.

(Yes?)

The Beanie Boy was quick to reply. "General Snap wanted me to let you know that he's managed to succeed in the next part of the plan. He contacted me via the tiny walkie talkie that you suggested Skrawl and him use."

(I see. So I take it that he succeeded in turning Rudy and Penny agaisnt each other?) Asked the memotrice.

"Well...kind of." The Beanie Boy rubbed the back of his head in a slightly nervous fashion, as if he felt that any deviation to the plan was a failure. "He did make Penny believe that Rudy was brainwashed by you. But I don't think Rudy thinks Penny is; he thinks she's being used."

(And he'd be right about that.) Thoughtless stated simply. The Beanie Boy looked a little surprised that it didn't react with more anger. (Do not worry. This is fine. So long as those two are at odds' ends, this should pan out well enough.) Thoughtless took a few steps forward, its gaze never leaving the Beanie Boy's. (I thank you for reporting this to me. Did you tell Skrawl?)

"Yes." The Beanie Boy said, nodding his head once. "I reported to him first. Then I came to report to you."

Thoughtless nodded in return. (Good, good.) Thoughtless then turned around and began to walk away a little. It paused for a moment, raising a wing up and moving it along the bottom of its beak. It then looked over its shoulders, a brown eye bleaming in the Beanie Boy's direction. (And one more thing.)

The Beanie Boy stared at it and waited.

Thoughtless lowered its head slightly and stared intently at the Beanie Boy. It spoke to him softly, using a low, barely audible mind voice. This took a lot of power, as it was difficult controlling a voice inside the head rather than one's own verbal voice box. As tough as it was, it still managed to utter the sentence in a hushed whispered-like tone, and when it was finished, it raised its head back up and stared at the Beanie Boy, waiting for a reply.

The Beanie Boy pulled his head back in surprise. "But I thought that he..." His voice trailed off as Thoughtless moved closer to him.

(Really?) Thoughtless straightened himself up, peering directly at the Beanie Boy, its eyes not shifting away. (I was certain that's what Skrawl told me.)

After a few moments of staring, the Beanie Boy blinked his eyes a few times, and then he moved his head back and nodded his head very slowly. "Oh...I see. Yes, I remember that now. My apologies."

(Do not worry about it. Just go do it. You wouldn't want to make him upset would you?) Thoughtless asked as it tilted its head to one side. (I don't think I need to remind you of how Skrawl can get when he's upset.)

"That is true." The Beanie Boy flinched as he said this, no doubt remembering an uncomfortable situation that had occurred before. "Well I better go do that then." The Beanie Boy raised his arm and waved at the memotrice. "So long, sir! Oh, and don't forget to go meet up with Skrawl soon. Since General Snap took care of his next part, Skrawl will..."

(Yes I am quite aware." The memotrice cut him off. (Now run along. Besides...) The memotrice pulled its head back, forming a somewhat S shape. (Snap isn't quite done yet. He still has another task to perform.)

"Oh? And what's that?" Asked the Beanie Boy.

The memotrice resisted the urge to slap itself in the face. (You should know this.) It said simply, its voice rigid and stiff and unrelenting.

The Beanie Boy looked unnerved by this and took a step back. He appeared to quickly calm as realization struck him. "Oh, that is correct. My bad." The Beanie Boy soon gave a bow to the memotrice. "Well I'd better go back to my duties. Skrawl is going to wonder where I am if he doesn't see me at my station."

(All right then. Goodbye. Oh...) The memotrice raised a foot up. (Don't forget about the...)

"I won't. I promise." With that, the Beanie Boy turned and left the room, leaving behind the memotrice. Thoughtless watched him fly away for a few moments before the corner of its beak ticked up into a small smile. It whispered its reply lowly.

(Good.)

sss

Mr. Tabootie felt some level of luck. It would seem that Dr. Von Doktor did have an opening after all. One of his afternoon meetings got cancelled, which meant that he could be fit in very quickly. It still meant waiting about a while, but he believed that, in the end, it would be worth it.

When it had come time for him to meet the man, or in this case, meet him for a second time, he had been escorted into his room. A middle-aged man is who had taken him. A bit bulky and almost brooding, the man hardly said a word to him as he led him to where Dr. Von Doktor would be waiting for him. Mr. Tabootie did thank the man out of politeness, but he only got a soft growl in response. He wasn't sure if it was something he did or if the man just didn't like Dr. Von Doktor.

Shrugging it off, he turned his attention to the door. He was about to open the door until he had looked down and noticed the lock. He bit his lip, remembering the last time he was here and the man's obsession with locks. It seemed to be a tradition around here, making him wonder if something had happened to make these scientists paranoid.

He had knocked on the door and the scientist had allowed him inside. He seemed surprisingly pleasant for someone who was recently humiliated. Perhaps he had gotten over the silly perpetual motion nonsense after all. It seemed to be that way, as during the initial conversaion, the old man hadn't mentioned it once.

But his demeanor seemed to be slightly altered when Rudy was brought up. He could see the way the man's eyes darkened slightly, as if recalling a poor memory. Mr. Tabootie didn't need to pry for more information to know that the man clearly hadn't fully gotten over what happened with Rudy. A part of Mr. Tabootie was almost happy to see this. It was something that he could regard as a possible connection. But it was just one thing. He still needed to talk to him more to be sure.

The talk went on for a short while. Mr. Tabootie relayed to the man what had happened to Rudy and Penny. Although the man did express some concern, it was clear, in his eyes, that the man... well he wasn't amused by what happened, but he didn't seem overtly worried, as if something else was on his mind. He seemed a little too eager to get the conversation over with. Mr. Tabootie did his best to hide his anger and annoyance as he did not want the man to know that he might be onto him.

"I am terribly zorry for what happened." Dr. Von Doktor said softly. "But I don't really know why you wanted to talk to me about ziz." He spread his hands out at his sides in a small shrug. "What would I be able to do for zat?"

Mr. Tabootie had to choose his next words very carefully. "I was just wondering if you knew...well anything. You've been around town a lot, haven't you?"

"Repairing my reputation zat your boy..." Dr. Von Doktor stopped himself, realizing he might have overstepped his bounds there. He immediately retracted and said, "Yez, I have."

"Have you seen anything suspicious?" Mr. Tabootie pretended not to have heard that comment Dr. Von Doktor made before. "Anything that might lead to the identity of that person going around..."

Dr. Von Doktor shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I'm zorry."

"I see." Mr. Tabootie said as he leaned back. He watched the old man carefully for a while. Many thoughts ran rapidly through his head. He tried to think of what he should make of this. Something wasn't adding up here, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. And yet, he was running out of things he wanted to say and ask. A part of him couldn't help but feel disappointed. Surely he could think of something else to say, right?

Dr. Von Doktor appeared to notice his dilemma. His expression was a frown, although not one that was very upset or anything. He opened his mouth and let out a low sigh. "I...know what you muzt feel about me." He placed a hand to his chest. "And I know zat your boy izn't exactly one of my favorite people." Mr. Tabootie narrowed his eyes slightly at this. The old man then motioned his hand towards him. "But I wouldn't wish zomezing like zat on him. I am zorry about what had happened to him. I do wish I could tell you more, but I... I juzt don't have anyzing elze zat I could tell you."

Mr. Tabootie stared at him in silence for a few moments. He tried to think of something else to say. For the moment, he just couldn't think of anything. So all he could do was stand there and watch the man quietly, the silence spreading through the large room like a heavy set fog.

He still hadn't been able to gather anything conclusive from this man. He wasn't sure if this man could have been really involved or if he was just getting jumpy. Dr. Von Doktor hadn't really said anything that proved he did it. He might have said something that indicated something like this, but that didn't mean that he was involved. He hadn't even told anything that appeared to contradict itself, even in spite of the long talk. His stories appeared to be consistant with one another.

"If it'z of any condolenze..." Dr. Von Doktor spoke up, cutting through the silence that had settled in the room. "..I will let you know about anyzing ztrange that pops up if I do zee anyzing. Would that be all right?"

It took Mr. Tabootie a while before he could answer. "...yes. That would work. Thank you."

Dr. Von Doktor nodded his head slowly. He stared at the man with some level of sympathy. "I do hope you find out who hurt your zon."

"Yeah..." Mr. Tabootie replied. He hardly noticed when his eyes began to narrow. "I hope so, too..."

sss

Penny couldn't believe what she was forced to do. She had never wanted to do something like this to her best friend, but...what choice did she have? If she allowed him to walk free, he might do something to jeopardize her and Snap. There was really no other available alternative except to tie him up. At least she had done it humanely enough so he shouldn't be in too much pain. But her heart ached seeing him like this, and how she would love to release him and help him up.

But until the spell on him was broken, there was no other choice. He needed to remain gagged and tied up like this for now. His arms secured behind his back and his legs tied together and the cloth in his mouth to keep his noise low, this was to both keep him from calling forth Skrawl, whom he believed was his ally now, and to keep him from hurting them or himself.

She shuddered to think of what the memotrice had done to him. She wondered just what of his memories had been altered, and what pain Rudy was forced to feel. She felt so bad for Rudy. He didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve to be tormented in such a way. She wanted to give him a comforting hug. The only thing stopping her was the reminder that, for now, he was on Skrawl's side.

She looked down and noticed Snap. The poor zoner had his head down and turned away as he walked. She noticed a few shakes of his shoulder. She bit her lip tighter than before, feeling a few tears crawling up in her eyes. She would just swoop in and give her friend a hug if he didn't ask her to leave him be. Poor guy must be taking this really hard. Rudy had apparently threatened him earlier, and Snap was still reeling from that. She couldn't blame him for acting this way. It was never easy when a friend threatened another friend, even if said friend was under a spell like Rudy was.

But Penny wasn't completely hopeless. As she continued to carry Rudy along in the makeshift wagon, looking left and right to make sure that no one was following them, she remembered what Snap had said. He was certain he saw soemthing down here that might help them somehow. It was tough to say if it would or not, but given their situation, Penny was just glad they had something they could try.

During his travel through this place, avoiding getting caught, Snap mentioned about this one room that seemed to have something that they could use. Some kind of teleportation structure, he thought. This came to Penny as a shock. She never recalled Skrawl having such a thing at his disposal, but then again, that jellybean did build a working zoner out of his own parts. That big brain thing... If he could do that, then a teleporter should be a cinch, right? She just hoped that it worked better than the one Rudy had made a while ago.

They continued to move down the hallway. Rudy had, thankfully, gone silent, giving up any attempt to free himself. He must have ran out of lies to tell. Penny glanced down at him sadly, sucking her lip into her mouth, her gaze filled with nothing but sympathy and worry.

"Don't worry, Rudy." She told him gently. "We will fix this. I promise."

Rudy looked up at her. She flinched as she saw his expression. Narrowed eyes, reddened slightly. He looked as if he had been crying, and that expression told of a sense of betrayal. She forced herself to look away. She knew that those looks were fake, but she couldn't help but feel a horrid sting of toxins in her stomach. It reminded her of the deed she had been forced to do. She would love to get this over with and have her friend back. She knew that Snap felt the same way.

The sooner they got out of this horrible place, the better. Penny wasn't sure if there was anyone that could help. She would go to Biclops, but he was still hypnotised himself. But Snap mentioned he overheard Thoughtless say there was someone who might be able to shoot through his powers. Obviously not a memory-based zoner as those are the ones most easily affected by it. But whoever it was, it was obvious they had some kind of power in order to be helpful to them.

She felt herself give a small sigh of relief as she noticed the designated room ahead. Just like Snap had described, its doorframe was slightly pointed, slanting inwards a tad. Snap had already picked up the speed and he pointed at the room with his rounded hand, obviously to make sure that she didn't pass it.

The room itself was a bit smaller than she had expected. That was probably due to the fact that this place was a little crowded. More so than the room she had come in from. She had to nudge the wagon harder in order to pull Rudy with her. She wasn't afraid of Rudy falling off, since he was strapped on, but she feared that she might accidentally hurt him if she wasn't careful enough.

It didn't take her too long to find the machine. There, she could see it, in the far corner of the room, looking kind of dusted. She frowned slightly at this. She thought that Snap said it had been working. Or at least, that's what he had overhead them say. Was it Skrawl or Thoughtless who said it?

Oh well, she pushed the thoughts aside for now. She took in a deep breath and she moved closer to the machine. She managed to keep the ride steady for Rudy as she approached the machine. She lifted her head up, staring at it up and down. It didn't seem like much, but it still brought to her a sense of hope. With this machine, they could escape.

Snap quickly rushed up to the machine. He reached over and brushed the dust off of it. He curled his lip up in slight disgust. "This thing is filthy!" He commented.

"Yeah but it's our only way out." Penny said solemnly.

Snap sighed. "Yeah, I know."

"Why don't you stand watch over Rudy? Make sure he doesn't try to hurt himself." Penny said. She stared at the machine intently, her eyes swimming over it as she took in all its detail. "I want to take a closer look at this thing myself."

"I'm not sure why you'd want to get close to this thing. But okay." Snap shrugged his shoulder. He gave the machine one more disgusted look before he moved away, positioning himself near Rudy. At this, Rudy appeared to try to yell at him again. Snap simply shook his head. "Oh Bucko..."

Penny looked at this sadly before she turned her head and started to make her way over to the machine. This thing would make it all better. It would help them find way to begin turning things around. It was their ticket to being able to stop Skrawl and Thoughtless. Sure, it couldn't do anything itself to them. But once they get out of here, they had a chance. They could keep Rudy somewhere safe and she and Snap could find a way to reverse the spell. She just hoped that they could pull it off soon. Otherwise...

She looked over at Rudy, watching him sadly as he started to struggle. Poor Rudy... She would help him the best she could. That, she could promise him.


	19. A Cruel Truth

Author's note-

RANDOMReader: Glad to hear that you are enjoying the story. I do know what episode you are referring to. I do actually like that episode. I don't think I can pick an episode I think is "worst" or anything. I liked how that episode showed that in some cases, ChalkZone things can affect humans. But my thought is that, this is not always the case. Thoughtless's powers do not work on humans. Part of the reason I chose it to be this way is so that it was not overpowered. It had a weakness this way.

At the moment, the story is on hiatus, however I've actually been posting this stuff late. I've been writing this since back in...I want to say March or something. And there's about 80 chapters so far, and the story has reached over 800k. So there's still plenty more to come, and you might not even notice the delay as I may start up well before I post the most recent chapter here.

sss

Rudy's mind raced as he remained trapped on the ground, unable to do anything. He was completely helpless to stop what was going on. He already had a good idea of what was going to happen, but there was nothing he could do. Even if he managed to free himself enough to speak to her, would Penny even believe him? In this present state, most likely not.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of hurt and betrayal. Yeah he understood that Penny was being fooled. But she had known him longer than she did Snap, and when Snap, brainwashed, arrived and told her what he believed happened, she didn't even try to get his side of the story. She automatically assumed that Snap spoke the truth about him and she immediately tied him up. He thought that she trusted him, but it would seem that he had been wrong in that aspect.

He could feel his gut twisting up inside of him, making him feel sick. He could feel the strong sensation of wanting to vomit, to open up his mouth and empty its contents. If it weren't for the gag placed in his mouth, he probably would have done something like that.

How could Penny do something like this to him? How could she not try to get his side of the story? How could she believe only one of her friends' stories and not get the other to make sure it was accurate? A part of him couldn't really blame Penny too much. After all, she had apparently not witnessed what Snap had done to him, no surprise. But still, he felt like she should have at least tried to hear his side of the story, to understand more completely why he reacted the way he did. She knew that he believed Snap was brainwashed, but she didn't fully understand it. She thought that he was trying to trick her.

Rudy tried not to cry. He used as much of his strength to avoid shedding tears. Right now, he had to focus on getting himself out of this situation, and he wasn't going to accomplish that through crying. The last thing he wanted to do was waste time. With what he knew was about to happen, he had to think of some way to get out.

But how was he going to do that? He couldn't free his arms or legs, and his mouth was gagged. He could do nothing to get these ropes off of him or the gag out. He couldn't try to contact Snap; he was the one who had been placed under the memotrice's spell. And even if he could think of something, would he able to do it before Snap stopped him? The zoner was looking at him with those intense, observant eyes. Amidst their satisfaction, he could see some suspicion, as if he was expecting him to try to break out at any moment. He was prepared to leap at him and stop it, he could tell.

Rudy knew that he was trapped. Utterly trapped with nowhere to go. He could feel the panic rising inside of him, especially when he saw Penny try to turn on the machine. She doesn't realize what was going to happen. She didn't see Snap pulling out that same weapon from before. Rudy's eyes bulged as he saw it. He struggled and squirmed, trying to get himself free. His struggles increased as he saw Snap look at him, giving him such a horrible expression before he turned back to Penny. The zoner leveled the weapon, aiming it directly at Penny. Rudy struggled to free himself faster, his legs kicking around, his arms pulling harder and harder. He ignored the pain this caused as he tried to get himself free.

He tried to shout at Penny, to warn her about what Snap was about to do. His calls were muffled, and unfortunately and unsurprisingly, Penny did not turn around to look at him. She probably thought that he was trying to trick her or something like that. She kept her attention focused on what Snap said was a transportation device. She had found a cloth and she was starting to clean it off. Despite being made of metal, it was clear it was not shiny enough to let her know of what was going on behind her. Whether or not this machine really was a transporter was hardly of Rudy's concern. Not when he watched Snap raise the gun and pointed it directly at Penny like that.

Oddly enough, the zoner hadn't fired. He had a clear shot. An open angle to get Penny. Yet he did not attempt to do anything. Rudy wasn't sure why that was, and he realized something was off about this. But most of his mind was in a desperate panic, struggling to free himself to try to stop him from carrying out the perceived attack. He couldn't stop to fully think of what Snap might be planning. All he could do was act.

Through his struggles, Rudy managed, miraculously, to free an arm. He moved his free limb around, going to the knots that held the ropes against him. They were good and tight, and he could feel his fingers ache as he struggled to open them up. He did soon manage to free his other arm, which made untying his legs and moving his gag much easier. He managed to do this in record time, and Snap didn't seem to notice.

Rudy didn't think about a plan. He didn't stop to wonder what he should do now. All he could do was act on instinct. He did the first thing that came to his mind.

He tackled Snap, ramming his body against him. Snap let out a cry of surprise as he was pushed against the ground. They grunted and growled as they struggled to dominate the other. Rudy grabbed onto the weapon that Snap held. The zoner hissed at this and tried to strike him back, one of his hands tightening around the handle of the weapon. Rudy placed his hand against Snap's head and held it down while he yanked back. Through some effort, he did manage to pull the weapon out of his hand.

However, any sense of victory he had was short-lived.

"Penny! Help me!" Snap cried out, putting on a performance that could shame even Jacko's stage dances. "Rudy's going to shoot me!" He wriggled, writhed, and kicked his legs out in desperation, his eyes growing wide with what the untrained eye would percieve as fear.

Penny immediately whipped her head over. Rudy widened his own eyes as they locked onto Penny's. He felt a tightness in his chest as he saw how shocked and horrified she looked. He didn't get a chance to speak and tell his side of what happened before Penny took immediate action. Faster than Rudy could have contemplated, Penny joined in the struggle, and now he found himself fighting against both of his friends. One brainwashed, the other fooled.

Rudy was unaware of all that went on during the struggle. He felt the sensation of being struck and kicked and pushed. He could feel himself striking back in desperation, trying to free himself. He could feel them trying to hold him down. He could feel them trying to reason with him. Well Penny was anyway, expressing no desire to really harm him. But Snap was putting on a show. There was a tiny difference in his pitch that told him that it was a trick. A difference that Penny, in all her panic and desperation, could not notice.

The three of them had rapidly become a blur on the ground. A mixture of colors and shapes and textures. Grunts, growls, hisses, pleas, shouts, they all become intertwined together. Mixed in to form a singular 'voice' of sorts, as they rolled across the ground, smashing against things, nearly knocking over one of the shelves. Scrapes and small bruises were a likely outcome from this, in addition to the dirt that was clumping to their bodies.

"Rudy! Please stop this!" Penny cried out as she gripped Rudy's shoulders. "Please...don't be like this! We're only trying to help you!"

Rudy jerked himself away and pushed against her. "You don't even know what's really going on!"

Penny looked at him sadly. "Please...don't you see what you've become? Don't you remember what we've been through?"

"Of course I do! I'm not the one who was changed! It was Snap! He..."

Before he could finish, Snap had grabbed his head and pushed it into the ground roughly. He kept it pinned down, one hand covering his mouth to keep him silent. Penny joined in and she tried to help Snap hold him down until he lost too much strength to keep fighting. But this didn't last too long as Rudy's panic caused him to start pushing them away. A foot against Snap's stomach and an elbow against Penny's chest was enough to free himself enough to struggle to his feet.

"Please Penny.. Listen to me!" Rudy pleaded with Penny was he turned to look at her. "Please pay attention to what is going on here!"

Snap dove in after him. He grabbed onto Rudy around one of his arms and he pulled him down fast. As he held him down, Snap managed to pull off one convincing sympathetic expression. If Rudy didn't know what was really going on, he would have been fooled by this look. "It pains me to see you like this, Bucko." Snap spoke in a soft voice. "But don't you worry. We will find a way to fix this."

Rudy didn't like the way Snap had looked at him when he said that. Penny missed it, but the look was clear as day to the boy. The look did little to calm him down and he ended up struggling harder. He let out a loud yell as he grabbed onto Snap's cape in the front of him and yanked him down, nearly hitting him face first into the floor. Rudy looped his arm around him. As he did this, he could feel Penny grab onto him and tried to pull him back.

"No! Rudy! Don't!"

Rudy ignored her as he tried to keep Snap subdued. There was some rope nearby. If he could just tie him up, if he could just keep him still long enough, then he could try to explain to Penny what was really going on. It was going to be a difficult task, and with all this pulling and pushing, it was going to be even harder. But if he was going to save both his friends, this must be done.

He struggled to keep himself steady as Penny kept pulling him back. He could feel her hands pressing against his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. He jerked himself away, pulling himself forward so that he could lean himself towards Snap. He kept the squirming zoner against himself as he reached for the rope. Through the midst of it all, he was actually surprised that he was able to hold on like this and for this long.

He kept reaching out, his fingers tracing the ground for the rope. He almost had it. He was almost there...

"Penny, help me! He's going to choke me!"

"Rudy! No!"

Before Rudy knew it, he was being pulled away from Snap with such incredible speed and force. He knew Penny was strong, but he had no idea to what degree. He didn't know she was capable of flinging him around like this. He looked at her, his shocked eyes catching her own. Her hands had gripped his arm and she was swinging him away from Snap and against one of the cabinets. Rudy collided with the cabinet, his weight and the force Penny used sufficient enough to knock it over.

Then he felt something prick in his eye. The next thing he knew, he became aware of a sudden, horrible sensation.

Agony.

Rudy stayed on the ground in the rubble, ignoring the uncomfortableness of the pile below him. He cared not for how things were jabbing him in the sides. He didn't pay attention to the intense cold or how one of his legs was slightly bent in an awkward position. The only thing his mind worried about was the horrific pain in his face, and the sticky goo that was coming out of it. Even in the middle of the pain, his mind registered one thing right away.

His right eye had been gouged. Half of his face was now covered in blood.

"R-Rudy... I-I-I... I didn't mean to..." Penny's hushed whisper came. Normally her voice would be calming, but now it seemed to be rather irritable to Rudy's ears. "I'm sorry... Oh gawd...what have I done..?"

Rudy turned to look at her. His good left eye, now doused in tears, stared at her through blurry vision. It was wide with a mixture of shock and pain...and betrayal too. He could see how hurt Penny looked, but that hardly registered to him. The pain that swept through his mind and body prevented him from trying to speak or even showing anything other than mostly fear. With his hand over his damaged eye, his mouth open and panting, he watched Penny with a wary expression. He didn't bother to look at Snap. His eye was on Penny only.

Penny was shaking at this point, her mind fully registering what she had just done. Her arms were at her sides, looking weak, her body shaking. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Rudy's face, her eyes trailing over the damage she herself had caused. She quivered her lower lip, a few tears beginning to glisten in her eyes. She looked back at Rudy, looking at him intently. She began to move over to him slowly, an action that caused Rudy's body to hunch up instinctively.

"Rudy, it was an accident. I swear..." She said, trying to be as calm and soothing as possible.

Despite her words, Rudy found it difficult to believe her. His racing mind hardly registered any attempts at an apology. All it could see was the person who had hurt him, even more so than Snap did. It was because of her that he was in such immense pain. The very sight of her was raising a lot of red flags in his head, and before he knew it, he had down something he never thought he would do to Penny.

He growled at her. Not a small one either, but a louder, almost animalistic growl, showing his teeth in the process. This shocked Penny and she froze for a few seconds. This gave Rudy time to back away from her.

However, Penny didn't appear ready to give up yet. She bit her lip and then she began to move towards him again. She took it nice and slow, her head lowering as she tried to look as nonthreatening as possible. Her movements to him were slow, almost gentle in their appearance. Yet there was a sense of wariness to them, as if she feared that Rudy would try to bite her in that state. She had a right to be afraid. Like this, Rudy woudn't be surprised if he did attack her.

Penny's shaky voice tried again. "Please...let me help you, Rudy.. Let me look at that eye..." Her voice cracked once as she tried not to cry. "Please... I didn't mean it, Rudy. You've got to believe me... I-I didn't mean it..."

She did manage to get close enough without Rudy fleeing. She remained there for a few moments, staring at him with those big, worried, guilt-ridden eyes. At first, it seemed like things might start to cool down. But then Penny pressed her luck by trying to reach out towards him. The moment Rudy saw that, he reacted immediately, striking her hand back with a loud slap, his mouth open in a loud, low hiss.

Penny looked at her hand, the skin slightly red from where Rudy struck it. She then looked back at him, her eyes wide. "Rudy..."

Rudy didn't have time to speak or give any sort of reaction. He didn't have time to try to run off and flee. He didn't have time to do anything when a sudden dizziness swept through his body swiftly, almost like invisible water submerging him. His vision blurred rapidly as it began to succumb to the blood loss and shock of what had transpired. With a small whimper of pain, he collapsed to the ground.

The last thing he heard before blackness fully engulfed him was a distorted cry from Penny, "Rudy!"

sss

"Oh Rudy... I didn't mean it... Please forgive me..." Penny whispered as she dropped down beside Rudy. She looked at them with the most horror-filled eyes she could ever muster. She reached down and she began to stroke his hair. "I'm so, so sorry..."

Her mind raced rapidly as she struggled to understand what had just transpired between her and Rudy. She had only wanted to help him. She and Snap were just trying to get him to calm down and hold still. But instead, it appeared that they only ended up making things worse. In the midst of the struggle, they ended up hurting Rudy. No... she ended up hurting Rudy.

She felt flashes in her head as she imagined the scene over and over again. The way she had grabbed onto his arm. The way she pulled back. The way she thrust him against the shelf. The blood splatter that followed and the horrible screeches of pain. Rudy's loud whimpering had filled the air, along with hisses and growls as he tried to defend himself from her. That look that he had given her... it hurt her so bad. She never thought that Rudy would ever look at her like...like that before...

She tried not to cry too much. She struggled to regain herself. But the warm tears that moved down her cheeks just wouldn't stop. She never felt so guilt-ridden before. It made her feel sick. As she wiped away her tears with a single finger, she thought back to when Rudy had accidentally forgot to draw a power source on his machine, making it look like he accomplished perpetual motion. He had looked so horrible when he had glanced at her, when he realized that he had angered her. Was this the same, gut twisting feeling he had back then?

It was little wonder that he had been worried about their friendship's stability. She didn't fully understand at the time, and a part of her was even confused why he was even asking, resulting in her 'well duh' comment. It was meant in good jest, but hearing it now in her head, with what happened, it sounded a bit harsher than she remembered.

Now it was her turn to wonder, to be fearful. She had hurt Rudy badly. Sure it was an accident. Sure she could try to explain it to him as soon as possible. Sure he might understand once he was not ruled by pain and not controlled by Skrawl and Thoughtless. He would realize that it was just an accident and he would forgive her...

...or would he..?

The thought caused her stomach to wrench. This was not any ordinary wound. This wasn't a small scrape or a small bruise. She had caused a traumatic injury. Even if she did manage to stop the bleeding, holding the cloth against his eye, there was no saving that visual orb located in his skull. She had pierced it, and even if Rudy recovered, he would never see out of that eye again. She had permanently altered his vision and there was no going back.

She felt herself release a few small sobs at this. Oh how could she have done something like this? How could she have allowed herself to get into such a frenzy that she wasn't careful of what she did? Because of her, Rudy had lost an eye and was in so much pain and would remain that way for a long time. Even after the healing and after everything was good between them, if it was good ever again, she would forever be haunted with nightmares of this incident. The image of Rudy getting hurt would be forever etched into the back of her mind.

"Penny, we should go."

Penny turned her head towards Snap, who had spoken an uncharacteristically cool voice. He was staring at her with an expression that seemed devoid of sympathy. This confused her, making her heart wrench. How could Snap be looking at her like that? Didn't he care about Rudy? He...

It was then it clicked with her. Of course he did. He was just too much shock of what happened. It wasn't even just that which resulted in this kind of reaction. He was angry with her, and how could he not be? He had witnessed her hurt Rudy. Albeit an accident, but still, she was the reason he passed out in pain. She looked away from Snap, her heart heavy with guilt. She couldn't bare to look at him with the knowledge that she had hurt their best friend.

"Yeah, you're right." Penny wiped her nose. She looked down at the unconscious form of Rudy. She took in a deep breath and sighed. "Let's load him back on."

With Snap's help, it didn't take too long for Penny to secure Rudy back on the makeshift sled that she built earlier. With little tools to use, she opted to keep the cloth pressed against his eye like a gauze, using the cloth she gagged him with earlier as a way of keeping the smaller cloth inside. With him unconscious, there was little need to silence him.

She leaned back and she stared down at his still form. He looked so peaceful like this. Breathing in and out slowly, not even too shaky. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that he was just sleeping. The thought of this made her crack a small smile. She could almost imagine him curled up in bed or on the ground or on a couch, resting after a long day of whatever. Oh how she wished that's what she was seeing. But instead, when she stared down, her eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the blood stained side of his face, his right eye replied with a deep, bloody stain, which only seemed to be getting darker by the second. Her smile soon faded. She knew she had to get him help and fast.

She turned back to Snap. His gaze refused to meet hers. His gaze was upon Rudy, and she could see the way he bit his lip nervously. No doubt he was wondering just how they were going to get Rudy out of here. She turnerd her attention back to the machine. She knew that this machine was their only chance now.

Then her heart nearly froze, her blood running cold. Her face paled and she could have sworn she got as light as Rudy was right now, perhaps even lighter. Realization rapidly dawned over her horrified face.

Rudy had let out a scream when he was struck. A loud scream. It must have bounced off the walls and into the hallway. She didn't hear anything...yet. But she was still certain that something may have heard his scream and she thought she could hear...something coming their way. She might have been having tricks played on her mind. Maybe she was overreacting. But regardless, she knew it was better to be safe than sorry.

She turned her head and looked down at Snap. "Do you know of a way out of here? Besides this machine?" She glanced down at it. "I mean..just in case we don't get it to work..." She then looked at the hallway, her eyes wide with worry. "There is a chance that we won't have enough time before they find us."

Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He approached the machine slowly, turning his head up and down as he examined it again, like he had before. After a few moments of getting reaquainted with the machine, he looked over at Penny and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not really sure. You already cleaned it off. But I don't know how to power this thing..."

"Why don't you look around?" Penny suggested. "You're a bit smaller than me. You could get into the smaller places more easily."

Snap didn't bother answering her back at this point, not even to make a remark about how he wasn't as scrawny as she might think he was. He knew that now wasn't the time for sarcastic remarks, and he focused his attention on looking around the machine, trying to locate the source of the power.

While Snap did this, Penny looked down at Rudy. She stroked his hair gently once more, her fingers running lightly through the strands. Despite worrying so much for him, she was glad that, for the time, he had a break from the pain. She wasn't sure how she'd be able to calm him down when he woke up. But at least for now, he was at peace.

This didn't stop the tears from reforming in her eyes. She bit her lip, allowing the tears to flow down her face. "Oh Rudy... I..I hope you can forgive me..." She whispered to him. Of course Rudy didn't respond except with some low breathing, but that didn't stop her from continuing to speak to him. "I never meant to hurt you. I know there...there isn't much I could do for a lost eye, but I...I promise, Rudy.. I will find a way to make it up to you." She leaned in closely and kissed his forehead lightly. "I promise."

sss

Snap tried his best not to scowl as he watched Penny tend to Rudy. He couldn't help but feel a little sickened by it all. It was hard to say if these gestures were even real, or if they were fake. How much did they really care for each other, and how much of it was exaggerated or faked? Could it be that they only cared about each other, but not give a fuck about him? That could be, considering how they had tortured him after building up his trust.

He shook the thought out of his head. As much as he would love to call her out for this, now wasn't the time. The plan had deviated more than he thought. His initial plan was to knock Penny into the machine and make her believe it was Rudy before he sent her away somewhere, separating him from Rudy. Then he'd send Rudy somewhere himself, perhaps near the Chalk Mine where Biclops was waiting for him.

But he did not foresee what Penny had done. He didn't foresee her accidentally hurting Rudy like this. While it amused him, it did also concern him as it meant he needed to change his plans quickly. He didn't want to disappoint Skrawl, and he sure didn't want Thoughtless to be upset at him either. He needed to figure out something else that he could do

He watched quietly as Penny stayed with Rudy. She didn't notice him; her eyes were shifted away, on Rudy only. She did not see the scowl on his face as he glared at her. He turned his head back to the machine and moved in closer and began to examine it.

As he did this, his mind's gears turned as he tried to think of a new plan. Something that would allow him to take care of both of these two and keep them at odd's ends against each other. Such a thing would be difficult with Rudy unconscious. He had already succeeded in getting Penny against Rudy. Now what about Rudy?

Or perhaps...he didn't have to do anything at all. His mind flashed back to when Penny had injured him. Of course, why didn't he think of it before? He could use that to his advantage. His smile grew twisted as he thought of it.

Rudy already seemed to think Penny did it on purpose. Once he woke up, if he recalled, he might still have that feeling that she did. Even so, there would be some amount of loss of trust between them. This would make it harder for them to work together, making them much easier pickings for when The Hunt began. Snap smiled at the thought of The Hunt, which the memotrice had explained to him and Skrawl. It's the term that the memotrice gave this whole operation of taking care of those two. Technically they were already participating in The Hunt, but at the moment, he wanted to move it along faster and get to the good stuff.

With that in mind, he realized there was no reason to really wait. He could make a move now, if he could think of anything. But what could he do at this very moment, and should he do anything? Timing was everything and if he made a move too early...

He continued to rummage through as he thought about this. He pretended to try to find a way to turn the machine on. He already knew how to do this and tried to delay it as much as he could as he tried to figure out what he was going to do next. A part of him cursed at himself for being so stupid. He should have realized something might have happened. True he didn't know this would have happened, but still, he should have thought of a backup plan before all of this. He sighed quietly. Nothing more he could do except keep trying.

A thought soon crossed his mind. Did he really need to keep up this charade anymore? Did he really need to keep lying to Penny about what he knew and didn't know? Perhaps now could be a good time to show her his true colors, and watch the look of horror in her eyes as she realized she was duped.

No, he realized that would be a mistake. This plan rided on them believing that the other was a traitor, whether accidental or not. If he revealed to Penny the truth, then she may realize that Rudy had spoken the truth. He was going to have to go about this in a different way. Exactly how, he wasn't sure quite yet. He couldn't do too much now without Penny getting suspicious. Things had actually been a little easier when Rudy was awake. At least then, if anything 'bad' happened, he could blame it on him. He couldn't do that anymore while he was unconscious.

But he did still have that walkie talkie that Skrawl had given him, the same one that he had used to tell that one Beanie Boy to report to Thoughtless. He could use it again to signal for the Beanie Boys to come in this way. He could simply pretend that they were invading, attacking, and try to 'save' his 'friends', only for them to get separated. He put on a wonderful play before. He could do it again.

But how was he going to do it? With frustration gripping his stomach and chest, he realized that such a thing was going to be hard with Penny here. She'd be able to listen in on his conversation easily. There was no way he could direct complex plans to the Beanie Boys. This made his blood boil. As second in command, he felt like a failure for not being able to do something that was supposed to be so simple. How was he going to pull this off now?

He turned his head to look at one of the nearest shelves. He narrowed his eyes. He knew of something that he could do. Looking back at Penny to make sure she wasn't looking, he moved towards the shelf and grabbed onto it. He yanked it back as hard as he could. He had no fear of the oncoming pain; he had felt much worse under Rudy and Penny.

The loud thud was enough to make Penny cry out. Under the rubble and such, Snap could not see her face. But he could hear her footsteps as she came rushing over quickly, her feet pounding the ground as swiftly as she could carry herself.

"Snap!" Penny cried, her voice shrill with terror. "Are you all right?!"

Snap narrowed his eyes at this. Such brilliant acting. No wonder she and Rudy had been able to fool him for so long. He cleared his throat and put on an equally impressive act himself. "I'm all right!" He gave a few fake coughs. He tried to make it sound hurt worse than it looked. "I think I twisted my leg, though!"

Penny gasped at this. "H-Hold on! I'll get you out!"

As Penny began to dig through the debris, Snap took advantage of the present situation. The debris blocked Penny from viewing him very well, and the sounds were a little muffled. He pulled out his walkie talkie and flipped it on, making sure to keep his hand over it to block the sound from reaching Penny's ears. He spoke into it in a low, harsh voice.

"Hello? Do you read me?"

A small beep, a click, a cough, then he could hear the distinct voice of one of the Beanie Boys. "Yes, General Snap? What is your order?"

Snap, unable to keep himself from smiling, began to whisper the new orders to the Beanie Boys. Once he was done, he closed the walkie talkie and put it away. He looked up, seeing Penny's shadow moving over as she attempted to free him from his 'trap'. If he had played his cards right, the Beanie Boys will be here soon, and then the fun will commense.

sss

"There you go, ma'am." Said the man as he finished installing the camera. "It's up and running now."

"Thank you." Replied Mrs. Sanchez. She didn't bother looking at the man as she said this. Her gaze remained transfixed on the camera that had just been installed. "You sure this will work?"

"Absolutely! These cameras catch anything!" The man said, a sense of pride in his voice. "Whatever comes by here, these cameras will catch. They never missed anything!"

Mrs. Sanchez stared at him for a moment. "Not even an ant?"

The man froze at this. He then smiled somewhat sheepishly, rubbing the back of his hand. "Well, I meant any human or dog or.. well you know." He quickly cleared his throat, trying to regain the composure that he had a short while ago. "But I promise you that you will not be disappointed. If anyone tries to get in your yard, you will know about it. No one will be able to tresspass without the alarm sounding off."

Mrs. Sanchez nodded at this. "Thanks again." She managed to force herself to look away as she went over to the man to give him the money that she owed him. "I appreciate you coming out at this time and working so fast."

The man pushed the cash into his pocket. "Not a problem at all, ma'am." He raised his cap to her and bowed slightly. "Have a good day."

Mrs. Sanchez watched as he grabbed his kit, got up off the ground, and began to walk away. She watched him go out of the yard, across the sidewalk, and into his car. She could hear the sound of the car turning on, the gears being shifted, and then the car had sped off into the distance. It was only when the car was completely gone that she returned her gaze to the camera that now lay in her tree.

She had to admit, this man did a good job. If she didn't know the camera was there, she'd walk by and not even realize it. The cameras he had installed were camouflaged. They were designed to blend in the trees quite well. Indeed, they were shaped like...well it was hard to describe. More twisty and wavy, not exactly box-sized like one might expect for a camera. He had even put some real lives around them to help with the illusion. She was certain that no one would be able to get past the mwithout her knowing about it.

Ever since she had learned there was someone out there beating people up, with Rudy and Penny being the only known, identified targets, she felt the urge to increase security around her place. She already had some cameras installed, but mostly in her business sections where she kept the animals and worked with customers. She decided that it would be best if she also got cameras for the yard as well. Since it was outside where Rudy and Penny were attacked, she didn't want to take the chance of letting the creep slip by. No way he was going to be able to repeat this incident again.

She hadn't heard a peep out of Rudy or Penny yet. Not for a long while. She looked up at where Penny's window was. She couldn't see them moving around in there, but she knew they were there. They were so quiet... Not something she thought she'd hear from them. Then again, with what had happened to them, how could she blame them? They had been through so much. Part of it caused by Reggie, and now someone else. The poor things must be so frightened...

Well surely they will feel better knowing that the security system had been installed. It might not fully stop whoever did this, but at least it would provide some sense of safety again. She had recommended Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie also get some cameras installed as well, so Rudy could feel just as safe as her daughter would. While she hoped that the evil man who did this would not return, a part of her hoped he did, if only so that she could catch him on camera and have him be brought to justice so he could serve his time for what he had done.

She decided that perhaps she should go up to the room and tell them that the cameras were installed. Or rather, tell them that she had cameras installed in the first place. She had thought about telling them before, but she decided not to bother them. She thought that they needed some time together and be alone and contemplate on what had happened to them. Now seemed like a good idea to tell them.

She made her way into the house. As soon as she reached the door, she opened it and walked inside. She allowed the door to shut behind her completely before she made her way towards the stairs. She stood in front of them and lifted her head up. She couldn't see any sign of them, or hear anything. This did not alarm her; she expected them to be very quiet. A part of her wanted to continue leaving them alone, but she knew she couldn't do that. She had to bring them some good news and lift their spirits up.

After she reached the top step and made her way to Penny's room, she stopped in front of it and stared it for a few moments. She thought for a few moments of how she was going to tell them. She thought that just telling them right away was enough, but she soon realized that this wasn't the case. They might freak out over the cameras, now that she thought about it. She needed to approach this delicately.

Well, here goes nothing.

"Penny? Rudy?" Mrs. Sanchez called out. She waited. There was no answer. "Hey, are you two in there?" A silly question. She knew the answer to that. But she felt she should ask anyway. When she still no answer, she pressed her ear against the door. She could hear nothing. No shifting of footsteps. No one coming to the door. Nothing.

She frowned at this. She wondered if they had fallen asleep. If that is the case, she could just go in and wake them up and speak to them. As much as that would be quite rude and she'd feel guilty for disturbing their slumber, she knew that the sooner she told them this, the better. She raised her hand up and she began to knock on the door lightly. No answer. She tried again, this time harder. But just like before, there was silence.

Realizing that she didn't have much of a choice, she opened up the door and stepped inside. As soon as she did, she immediately froze at what she saw. Or rather, what she didn't see.

Rudy and Penny...they...they weren't here...

The woman felt her heart nearly stop beating at this realization. She turned her head left and right frantically, trying to figure out where those two could be. When her heart was no longer frozen, it began to pump rapidly, going so fast she thought it was going to burst open from her chest. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have been too concerned as she would have thought they left to Rudy's hideout or something, which they had done before. But with that mysterious man running around town and with what happened to Rudy and Penny earlier, the sight of them gone only alarmed the woman, terrifying her.

Her first thought was to rummage through the room. Perhaps, for whatever reason, they decided to hide. She wasn't sure why they'd do this, not after being so stunned by that attack, but she did not question it. She immediately began looking through the room. She looked underneath the desk, the bed, and even looked in Penny's closet. But no matter how hard she looked, she could find no sign of the children. This caused her breathing to increase even more. She couldn't even think to call for their names. All she could do was stand there, stunned.

When she managed to snap out of it, she immediately rushed down the stairs. She headed into the kitchen where her phone was located. She grabbed onto it and lifted it up. Her hands were so sweaty, she nearly dropped the phone. Her breathing still quick and heavy, her hands and body shaking, she began to dial a number.

The ringing seemed to take forever. All the while, she was fidgeting, biting her lip, looking all around. Her mind was racing, many questions rushing through her head. Just what had happened? Where were Rudy and Penny? There was no sign of a struggle. The window was closed. The bedsheets were still where they belonged. She didn't see or hear them coming down the stairs. It was as if they had vanished...

Soon she heard a click and then a voice on the other end. "Hello?" The feminine voice revealed that it was Mrs. Tabootie. "Who is this?" She asked after Mrs. Sanchez failed to answer right away.

"I-It's me..." Mrs. Sanchez said quietly.

"Mrs. Sanchez...?" Breathed Mrs. Tabootie. "What's wrong?"

Mrs. Sanchez hesitated for a moment. She bit her lip nervously, unable to believe the news that she was about to deliver. "Rudy and Penny...they're...they're gone... I can't find them!"

The other end of the line immediately went silent.

sss

The drive home hardly felt like anything. Oh he was aware that he was moving. He knew that the car was going along the road. He knew that his house wasn't too far away and that it wouldn't take too long to get there.

But the ride felt almost...numb. Like nothing was really happening. He was there, but then he wasn't. All he could do was just stare out ahead almost blankly, his feet on the pedals moving the car forward in a constant speed. It was almost pure instinct that he was able to swerve the car enough to avoid getting struck.

Mr. Tabootie had been like this for a while now. Ever since he left that laboratory and started to resume going home, he had been in this state. He hadn't gone straight home. Instead he took a drive around town to allow his thoughts to sift through his head. They had built up in the back of his skull and driving around like this helped to bring those thoughts into the forefront. He needed some time to think before he headed home to his wife. There was much to think about.

He replayed what happened in his head over and over again, letting the thoughts sift through his head in a constant motion. He recalled every word and every gesture to the best of his ability. He thought about everything that Dr. Von Doktor had said, his mind's processes trying to figure out any meaning behind them. He remembered the expressions the old man made, his condolences, his offer of help...

...and it led him to concluding that he may very well be guilty.

Mr. Tabootie knew that those who were guilty are likely to step in to help to drive the trail from them. Dr. Von Doktor seemed a little too eager to help. There hadn't even been a struggle, and he hadn't even asked for assistance; he offered it himself. And quite quickly, too. While some may find this to be an appreciative gesture, Mr. Tabootie couldn't help but feel the red flags raising up inside of him quickly. The fact that this man, who hated his son, hated Penny, would so quickly try to help him, just only made him seem guiltier.

But he still had no proof, and it wasn't like he could just go back. That was his only time he could speak to Dr. Von Doktor. Any future attempts at seeing him, at least any time soon, would not end very well. If he was going to find proof of his involvement, he was going to need to go to the area where Rudy and Penny were found. Now...where was that? His yard or Mrs. Sanchez's yard? He wanted to say it was his yard, but he needed to speak to his wife and Mrs. Sanche just to be sure. Then he could look around that area again and see if there was anything there that would hint at his involvement.

If he were to find anything that he felt would connect Dr. Von Doktor to what happened to Rudy and Penny, he could show that to the police and they may decide to search his place for any clues, and they would most certainly interrogate him. He had a feeling that the scientist might know he was onto him and be prepared, but Mr. Tabootie had some confidence that his attempts at disguises would be seen through.

But what would he do if Dr. Von Doktor wasn't involved? What if it turned out he was wrong and the man was, as unlikely as it was, innocent?

He hadn't really thought of anyone else yet. At least, not someone whom he believed would try something like this. There was still Morty The Steer King, but even now, he couldn't really fathom him doing something like this. He might be a big show off, but he was too high strung and high profile to risk ruining his reputation by hurting children. But as much as he didn't want to admit it, Morty's the only other person he could think of at the moment that was the closest thing to a suspect that he had, outside of Dr. Von Doktor.

If both of them turn out to be innocent, then he was back to square one. He had thought that it was Reggie, but now that seemed unlikely. The times just didn't match up, and he recalled that he even called that place up where he was forced to volunteer at and they could attest that he was there. And he wasn't about to blame Mr. Bullnerd, even in spite of him thinking that they might have been the ones responsible for hurting Rudy, and those two childre that Reggie had ordered around didn't seem like the type that would do those things on their own.

He really hoped that whoever had hurt their children was someone that he and his wife knew to some extent. He would rather it be a jerk that they knew, and not someone whom they never met before. The unknown was unnerving, and for all he knew, this new person could be a cold, maniacal person who could easily slip out of the police's grasp.

He realized that he might be overreacting but he couldn't help it. He had never feared so much for his son's life before, or his. True the attack wasn't as bad as it could have been, but this person had used stealth and they hurt a ten year old boy for crying out loud. What would stop them from doing worse? He narrowed his eyes at this thought. Whoever it turns out to be, he couldn't wait to see them behind bars.

Up ahead, he could see the turn that led towards the main street. He decided one more loop around a few blocks would finish up his thought processes, and then he'll go home. Being a meat seller, he had some money, so gas was not too much of a problem. But he was taking a while to get back home, so he thought that he should call his wife up and talk to her.

But when he had gotten on the phone with his wife, the first response he got from her was not one he had hoped to hear.

"Joe! They're gone!"

Mr. Tabootie nearly drove the car off the road. He ignored the loud honks he got from people passing by, glaring at him, as he stared ahead, wide-eyed. He felt dryness in his throat for a few moments. It took him effort to speak again.

"Wh-What...?" He whispered.

His wife sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "Mrs. Sanchez just called me. Rudy and Penny...she can't find them!" A loud sniffle. "S-Someone must have..."

Mr. Tabootie had to stop the car. He could not drive in this circumstance. His mind pounded and raced with thoughts. He could hardly keep up with the conversation with his wife after that. His mind was too focused on what she had told him. A chilling through went through his mind.

Dr. Von Doktor...couldn't have been the culprit. He was in his office the whole time. There was no way he could have left his office to take his son and Penny. He realized it also couldn't have been Morty, either. He just remembered that he out on some vacation. But if it wasn't either of those two, then...

...who took Rudy and Penny...?

sss

Geomites and red chalk.

This is what had been on Thoughtless's mind for a while now. Mostly the red chalk, however it was also interested in the geomites as well. It didn't think about them too much, but after reading more, it was reaffirmed of its importance. For it was geomites that played a strong role in how the red chalk worked.

Thoughtless hadn't mentioned this discovery to Skrawl. It wasn't like the jellybean would have cared. Skrawl did not have a use for red chalk and the current plan didn't even call for its usage. This left Thoughtless free to research this stuff without pressure of having to tell the jellybean about it. Besides, it had its doubts that Skrawl would think to use it for the same reason that it wanted to. Its mindset wasn't exactly the same as Skrawl's.

It stared down at the books. It still needed to do a bit more research of its own just to make sure. But it was certain that the red chalk was created from geomites. It was an 'unnatural chalk', as it would imagine another zoner calling it. It was created by something...or rather, by someone. Thoughtless still needed some testing, but if it could figure out if it was correct or not, then the task ahead may or may not be difficult. Regardless, it still smiled. It knew it would all be worth it in the end.

Its mind shifted to the snake-like zoner from before. After Cornerstone had served her purpose, Skrawl decided to lock her up. She was placed in a strong, reinforced cage somewhere, deep in the hideout. She had been difficult to subdue, but once in the cage, she was pretty much harmless.

Thoughtless narrowed its eyes at this. Seeing Cornerstone in the cage reminded it of hitself. It hated cages immensely and only used them if necessary, such as with the human children. It couldn't help but feel some level of disgust towards Skrawl for using one. It did not speak up only because it felt that Skrawl simply wouldn't 'get it' and think that it was trying to trick him or something. But it wasn't angry enough to strike back and certainly not angry enough to go and free Cornerstone itself. She wasn't a top priority to him at the moment. Besides, it already had some plans for her. It turned its attention back to its books.

It recalled the location of the geomites. They weren't located too far away, surprisingly enough. It wasn't sure how it was going to go there and look for them without having to tell Skrawl, and what would Skrawl want with them anyway? He would want it to stay put and help him, even though he didn't seem to need its help as much since this portion of the plan went into effect. Skrawl seemed to have too big an ego to even want to share the limelight with it, let alone keep going to it for help. Besides, at the moment, there really wasn't a need for him to converse with it.

Well, except for the sword thing. Thoughtless had nearly forgotten about that. It had been too enthralled with these books to give the swords a second thought. Skrawl had sent more Beanie Boys to look for the swords, but they always came up empty. Thoughtless was not surprised by this news. But it did recall that Skrawl really wanted to find them, likely to use the swords to his own benefits. No doubt he would use them to take over ChalkZone. He seemed to really want to accomplish that goal.

Thoughtless set such thoughts aside for now the best that it could. It was more interested in the geomites than any sword, and certainly much more interested in the red chalk, borne of such geomites. It had never known how complicated the red chalk had been. Even before it knew, it was always interested in the red chalk. It had overheard some zoners speak of it before it met Skrawl, and even some of the minds it looked into had some memories of this chalk. It seemed really powerful. It had wondered why the red chalk was like this, which ultimately led to its discovery of geomites.

Through its reading, it discovered that geomites were a naturally occurring substance in ChalkZone. A strange thing to say, but it pretty much meant that no artist actually drew it; it just grew on its own. It only grew in small, hidden locations. There were different colors, each representing a different strength, and it recalled red was one of them.

Red chalk must have been the result of an experiment. An attempt to make a new type of chalk for some reason. But it didn't work. Or perhaps it held another purpose. It did discover a rather disturbing origin story for the red chalk, but it would need to read more to discover if it could possibly be correct.

If it turned out that it was right about where the red chalk came from, if all evidence points in this direction, then it would seem that it had another purpose for Biclops other than barracading the Chalk Mine after all.

sss

"Where did all these Beanie Boys come from?!" Penny wailed in horror.

"I-I don't know, Buckette! They just appeared out of nowhere!" Snap replied, his voice filled with horror.

"Keep them away from Rudy!" Demanded Penny. "I'll try to think of something we can do!"

Snap didn't need to be told twice before he took position beside Rudy. In the past, this would have been a protective gesture, but with what happened, with the truth that he now knew, this was more of business than anything. He did his best to hide his smile as the Beanie Boys began their work on her, keeping her surrounded and busy.

Snap was still covered in some dirt from what happened before. He had to brush himself off a bit to get himself cleaned up. Penny had helped him out of the 'trap' that he was in. From how she spoke to him, she didn't appear to notice that he had been saying anything earlier. Good, so she didn't know about him contacting the Beanie Boys.

This was proven correct when the Beanie Boys had finally come. They zipped in from the door as quickly as they could, and Penny was taken by total surprise. She had let out a scream when one of them tried to jump her initially. She had to move back to keep from getting hit by the fat flying zoner. The same Beanie Boy had whipped around to try to tackle her again. Penny picked up something to strike him with, knocking him back. Although a little peeved, Snap had to admit that the Beanie Boy's expression after that was pretty funny.

Snap took a moment to watch as the Beanie Boys performed their act. It had just been like he had told them. Zip around Penny. Dive. Pretend they were attacking. Make it look as convincing as possible. He didn't want her to suspect that this whole thing was a ruse. If they just hovered there for a while, Penny would realize what was going on. So occasionally, the Beanie Boys would dive in to attack just to make sure that she didn't ever think that they were just faking it.

Snap turned his attention down to Rudy. With Penny's attention on the Beanie Boys, he was free to give a dark scowl to the boy. He had to almost laugh at the wound he had been given. This gave him a brief glimpse into the world of pain he had caused for him. Now Rudy, for that moment, knew what it felt like.

He could also use this wound to his advantage, as he recalled to himself. He would just need to make sure that Rudy remembered that it was Penny who had attacked him. He wasn't sure yet how he would do that, but he was certain he could pull it off. If he did it correctly, then he would have successfully drove a wedge between them. Penny thinks Rudy had his memory altered, and Rudy would think that Penny attacked him on purpose. It was so...perfect. He couldn't help but grin more broadly.

Despite the plan, he couldn't help but feel some temptation as he stared down at Rudy. Penny was so busy, it would be too easy for him to wrap his hands around Rudy's neck and snap it. Just a single twist would be all that's required, and then Rudy would fall silent permanently. Never again would he be able to hurt him or any other zoner. He would never again have to live in fear of this boy. He could go to bed at night and not worry about him suddenly popping onto his bed and trying to tie him up and hurt him.

He reached down and he touched Rudy's cheek lightly. He caressed it before he moved it down to his neck. After a gentle squeeze, he moved it onto his throat, placing his hand right there. Yes, this was the spot. The feel of pumping underneath filled him with some irritation. Oh how he would love to make it stop...

He quickly removed his hand and let out a sigh. No, this is not how it was going to play out. He would stick to the plan, no matter what temptations rush through his mind. He turned his head and he looked back at the Beanie Boys to see how they were doing.

Penny seemed to be having some trouble with the Beanie Boys. She was being knocked around a bit. She did manage a few blows back, but regardless, the Beanie Boys had her pinned down, and it was unlikely she was going to be able to shake them off. Oh she could try, and how she could try. But the Beanie Boys followed his formation perfectly, and they taunted her, swung around her, pushed her. For each blow she gave, she got about twice that back at her. Gentle blows of course; Snap didn't want to hurt her too badly just yet. But enough that she wouldn't think it was all being staged.

Snap himself had to pretend that he was fighting the Beanie Boys. He had to hold himself back so that Penny doesn't realize he picked up a few new skills, but he also had to try to make it look like he was actually fighting back. The Beanie Boys who came to him kept looking at him for direction. He had to use swift hand gestures and eye movements and nods to indicate what he wanted them to do. Even with his gold band hidden under his sleeve, the Beanie Boys still recognized him as second in command, their general.

Pretending to fight back, making it look convincing but not too over the top, wasn't as easy as he thought it was going to be. He was thankful that the Beanie Boys acted like they were more interested in Penny. He wasn't worried of Penny getting suspicious of this. He already knew what she would think of that.

"S-Snap! We need to figure a way out of here! The Beanie Boys... They must realize that Rudy is too incapacitated to fight and now they are making sure that I can't either!"

Snap smiled softly. Yes, that's exactly what he thought she was going to say.

He didn't bother to reply to her. Instead, he let out a loud shout as he 'struck down' one of the Beanie Boys. The flying zoner hit into the ground and grunted before flying back up. He then turned himself around and planted a well executed kick into another, slamming them into the wall. He looked all around, giving the most convincing snarl at the Beanie Boys as he could, his body adopting a defensive stance. He kept himself between Rudy and the Beanie Boys. He made sure to go around to the other side to 'stop' any Beanie Boy who was trying to flank him from another side.

It was only after Snap dealt with about five Beanie Boys that he even bothered to answer Penny. "You sure about that? They seem pretty eager over here, too!"

Penny let out a growl as she pushed back a Beanie Boy, pressing him against the wall and holding him there. She turned her head away and looked over at Snap. "I'm being serious, Snap!"

"I know! So am I!" Snap gritted his teeth as he looked left and right. "How do you suppose we get out of here then?"

A pause. And then he heard Penny say, "I...don't know."

Snap frowned softly at this. Well that wasn't the answer he was hoping to hear. Penny was the smart one, and she couldn't figure out a way of escape? He tried hard not to grumble to himself or slap himself in the face. Surely Penny wouldn't have given up that easily. That simply wasn't in her nature. That big brain of hers should easily have made the connection. The fact that she didn't was quite an irritant to him. After all, wasn't she just working on the machine?

Then he realized that Penny couldn't work on the machine. Not yet. Not to mention she had no idea how it was going to work. He frowned softly at this. How was he going to get moving forward with this plan? How was he going to split them apart like he had planned? There had to be some way to do it. He just...

ooo Why am I trying to separate them for something they may not have done? ooo

Snap tried not to whirl his head or shout at the voice when it had come back. No, not now. Of all the times, not now... He gripped at his head, pretending that he had an injury just in case Penny was looking. He rubbed it back and forth as he struggled to keep the voice away.

He had no idea how that could have happened. The voice hadn't bothered him for a while, and now it's suddenly come back. The thought made his teeth clench tightly. Why wouldn't the voice just go away and leave him alone? He wasn't doing anything wrong, anyway. He was just getting the justice that he deserved so much. Was that really so bad? Was he really to be deprived of something that he deserved?

ooo If it turns out that Rudy and Penny are innocent, then I would be a bigger monster than they. How would I be able to face myself if that happened? ooo

Snap couldn't help but swing his head to one side, despite his efforts. He let out a loud grunt and hiss, and shook his head. He tried even harder to get the voice out. He could feel an ache spreading through his skull. He gripped onto his head tightly, his body shaking harder. He tried to banish the thoughts completely, but it almost seemed like his attempts were only making them worse.

ooo I am so convinced that Skrawl and Thoughtless speak the truth, and yet I don't bother getting Rudy and Penny's point of view? Is that really fair? Shouldn't I have asked them to fully understand? ooo

Snap shook his head, a tad more violently this time. It was getting harder for him to stifle all of his cries. He had to keep his jaws clinched together, otherwise he would have likely let out a loud scream of frustration. He couldn't understand why the voice was haunting him now. Was it because Rudy laid before him, unconscious? He stared down at Rudy, watching him breathing, his eyes remaining wide open.

He had to admit, Rudy certainly didn't seem harmless right now. In fact, he looked down right peaceful, even in spite of the bloodied eye. He let his eyes trail over him, his brain slowly taking in the fact that he was just a little boy. Ten years old. A tyke in the Real World. Was Rudy, or Penny for that matter really capable of such violence?

Yes...they were. He felt his blood boil as he recalled Reggie. Age wasn't enough of a deterrent. Evil came in all sorts of ages, and it can start very young. Rudy being a little kid didn't mean that he didn't hold the mind of a monster. He had proven that when he had cut into him on that surgical table. He knew it was Rudy and Penny who had done that to him. He would never forget their faces.

ooo Or was it just a bad dream? ooo

No, not a dream. He had taken a while to heal. His body might have healed, save for the scar on his eye, but not his mind. His mind never forgot what happened and it never will. He looked down at Rudy once more and scowled at him. He was going to pay for what he has done.

ooo Did he do anything wrong? Is it worth it doing this? Shouldn't I wait and see? Maybe Rudy will prove his innocense and find out who really hurt me. Maybe I... ooo

No no no no...

He had to stop thinking like that. He needed to get those nasty, horrible thoughts out of his mind. He couldn't allow himself to get so confused and misguided over what he knew had happened. He couldn't let himself believe that something else had happened. He already knew what had occurred and Rudy and Penny were the culprits. He struggled to keep the thoughts out of his head, twisting his head from said to said. He constantly told the voices to just leave him alone, that he didn't have any time to waste with its pitiful games.

He was so enthralled with keeping his mind in tact that he didn't realize that everything in the room had died down. He was the only one making noise. The Beanie Boys were watching him with confused expressions. Penny was staring over at him, her hand to her mouth in worry, her eyes bulging open along with her mouth. Snap slowly began to settle himself down, the ache slowly dissipating. He looked around, from Penny and then to each of the Beanie Boys, taking in their expressions.

They looked so confused and uncertain, not sure what to make of what he was doing. He looked left and right. The expressions were all the same. Confusion, shock, and uncertainty. He didn't understand it at first. Wasn't he being careful? Hadn't he been able to hold still? It was then he realized that...no, he hadn't been.

He noticed his position. He was leaning against Rudy's unconscious form. He almost looked as if he had collapsed against him. He could sense that his hands were still gripping his head tightly. He realized that he had a contortion on his face, something that looked almost like he was in a lot of pain. There was a spark of worry most strongly shining in Penny's eyes and she looked as if she wanted to rush over and give him a hug. He was glad that she did not come over and put on that disgusting fake display.

He let out a groan as he pushed himself up. Silence still reigned in the room, the only sound being his own footsteps and groaning. He placed his hand against his head and rubbed it carefully. He hissed softly as he stumbled forward, his foot nearly twisting to one side. He then straightened himself out and he looked around carefully. Just like before, the expressions never changed.

"Snap..." Penny whispered softly. Snap noticed that she was pushing against a Beanie Boy. "A-Are you all right?"

"Yeah..." Snap said as convincingly as he could. He began to rub his head. "What happened..?"

"You kind of just blanked out. You collapsed and then you began to mutter things and..." Penny's voice trailed off. She stared at Snap long and hard for a few moments. She bit her lip and she leaned in towards him. "Snap...what did you mean by what you said?" At this, Snap looked at her in genuine confusion. "What did you mean by 'I know what Rudy and Penny did'...?"

Snap went silent at this. The Beanie Boys hardly moved either. Penny didn't seem to question it. Perhaps she thought they were confused and interested in this statement as well, or perhaps she thought they believed they had them cornered anyway and didn't need to take further action. Whatever she was thinking, she was still staring at him in silence, her eyes locked onto his.

She knew... She had overhead him speak... If she had heard that, she must have heard the other things and... Oh gawd, she knew...

For a few moments, Snap could only stare at her in silence, his mind racing as he struggled to think of what he was going to do. How was he going to get himself out of this mess? She wasn't supposed to find out. Not yet. He hadn't even gotten to spring the trap yet. It wasn't time... He needed more time than this... He tried to think of some sort of lie, but his mind, for the next few moments, could only draw a blank. He bit his lip nervously. If he could just think of a way to stall...

No.

He had a better idea.

It was time to take action.

Snap kept his eyes on Penny as he took a few steps towards her. Penny appeared to sense something was wrong with him and she leaned away from him. She gritted her teeth nervously as she watched. The connection almost seemed to shine in her eyes.

"S-Snap..." Penny whispered in a low voice. "Y-You're..."

Snap's mouth curled up into a half smirk. "You always were smarter than Rudy."

Penny let out a gasp at this, her hand clamping onto her mouth, her eyes bulging. She seemed to be realizing what had just happened. Snap continued to smile at her as he waited for her to speak again. He waited to hear her jumbled questions as she struggled to make sense of what happened. But when she did speak, it wasn't exactly what he thought she was going to say.

"You and Rudy...you both...you..." Penny took a few shaky steps back.

Snap raised an eyebrow. Not what he thought she was going to say, but it was close enough. He simply smiled, allowing Penny to reach the conclusions on her own. He turned his head to the nearest Beanie Boy and nodded his head once. "You know what to do..."

It took only seconds for Penny to be overwhelmed by the Beanie Boys. With them no longer holding back, they grabbed onto her rand subdued her. She tried to fight back, but it was useless. With her secured, this allowed Snap to walk up to the machine. He turned his head and looked at her with a smirk before he worked on the machine. He opened up the hidden panel that had all the buttons. He began to push them, crunching in some coordinates.

"Where are you sending me?!" Penny demanded.

Snap peered up at her, his expression blank for a moment. He soon smiled. "Actually, these coordinates are for Rudy. He needs more magic chalk, you know? You, however, are staying with us."

"What? N-No!" Penny struggled to get free, her body jerking from side to side. "Y-You're just sending him to his death! Willingly! That's sick! How could you do something like that?!"

Snap's stare at her hardened. "How could you cut me open...?"

"What?" Penny's struggling stopped all at once as if she was hit by a stone. "Snap...I-I never..."

"Shut it! I don't want to hear anymore of your lies!" Snap pointed his rounded hand at her, his voice dripping with venom. He turned and gave an evil grin to the Beanie Boys. "Take her away. And make sure she's... 'comfortable'... We wouldn't want her to feel unwelcome here, now do we..?"

Snap ignored the shouts from Penny as she was dragged down the hallway. He turned his attention to Rudy. A nasty smile spread across his face. Now to get rid of the second one...

It took a few moments for the machine to get warmed up, but soon it began to glow. The center of it held the brightest light, almost sphere shaped and blinding. Snap had to look a way bit, especially when lightning-shaped veins began to spread all around, shooting off in all directions. He took a few steps back as the machine roared to life, whirring and buzzing. Soon there was a brief sound that was almost like a clash, and then the light faded and the ball of light hovered over in a more calm, somewhat serene matter.

Calling to the Beanie Boys, they picked up Rudy's unconscious form. Snap motioned towards the machine and soon Rudy was placed in front of it, his arms and legs stretched in a straight line almost like he was some sort of catch of the day.

Snap took a few steps forward and he looked down at his former friend. He gave him a hateful and satisfied smile, unable to stop the wide grin from forming in his eyes. He stood upright, triumph spreading through his chest and stomach. He exchanged looks with the Beanie Boys. They gave him equally satisfied sneers, some sniggering. Snap looked back down at Rudy and pressed his foot against him.

"Well, this is where we part, 'old friend'. But don't worry. You have a date with someone else. Another good friend of yours... He will be so happy to meet you..."

With that, Snap pulled his leg back and he kicked Rudy as hard as he could into the machine. He took a few steps back and watched with a satisfied grin as Rudy's body stretched, squished, and distorted as he was being forced through the teleporter. In a flash of particles, he was gone.

sss

The Beanie Boy grumbled to himself. While he didn't complain about working for Skrawl too much, there were times when his sense of judgment really confused him. The jellybean's plans weren't always so set in stone and they could be changed on a whim. He had come to accept this as just Skrawl's way of adapation. Sometimes things just come up that call for the need of changes in order to work. It simply wouldn't be wise if left on its own.

But this change... It was the most bizarre one of all. Even now, he couldn't really fathom why Skrawl called for this. Thoughtless had reminded him of it, and now he could understand why. It was just too...strange. Why would Skrawl call for this?

ooo That's because he didn't. I know Skrawl well enough. He would not think like this. ooo

The Beanie Boy shook his head once. No, that didn't seem to be possible. The memory was just too sharp. How could something so fake be so vivid in his mind? It didn't make sense to him. Real memories were sharp and clear, while fake ones were blurry, at least in his experience. And this memory was definitely sharp and clear. It had to be real.

He had thought about going to Skrawl and asking him just to make sure, but he hesitated at the thought. Skrawl did not lie to repeat things and he knew what a temper he could have, especially when he's so close to winning. He didn't want to ruin his boss's chances at stopping Rudy and Penny permanently, and though he would love for a way to regain Skrawl's favor over Snap, he knew that this would be a surefire way to lose that. Skrawl didn't like to give commands more than once.

Still...he knew this was crazy. He knew that this might only make things worse. He knew just what a huge risk this was. That was part of the reason he was having some doubts about this. Something just didn't feel right to him. Something about this whole thing felt off. Perhaps he should go talk to Skrawl after all... No. He shook his head. It would be just fine.

He continued down the stony hallway, passing by the flames and proceeded to go down the spiral staircase. The steps were quite worn and broken, but it didn't matter to him since he could fly. He also had pretty good eyesight in the dark, better than the average Beanie Boy. This was part of the reason Skrawl favored him.

Well, usually that is. He planned on trying to regain that position someday. If only he hadn't allowed Snap to ride him like that... He formed a fist at the memory. He wasn't even a real Beanie Boy. How could Skrawl even think of giving such a high ranking position to someone like him? Especially to someone who was one of Rudy Tabootie's creations? He didn't care if Snap was on their side now or not. He did not deserve to be second in command.

Oh well, there was nothing he could do about that. If Skrawl trusted Snap more than him, Delta the Beanie Boy, then it was just something that he was going to have to accept. Even if it did twist his gut up inside.

Delta soon reached the bottom step and he turned to the right. He headed down the narrow, stoney hallway. He ignored the cobwebs in some areas and the dust that clung to the unkempt walls. He ignored the small of dankness that hovered around here. He ignored the drippings on the wall, the flickering of old lights that were about to finally burn out. He moved past the rows and rows of black-barred cages until he found the one that he was looking for.

One of the cages had a gold mark on it. A plate with a name engraved on it. A closer inspection revealed that it said 'Cornerstone' and peering inside, he could tell it wasn't lying. In the corner of the dark room, devoid of almost anything except a chained wall bed that the zoner couldn't even use and a food and water dish, laid the snake-like zoner. She was curled up on the ground, her gold back rising up and down slowly with each breath. Delta watched her for a few moments. Then he let out a sigh. He might as well get this over with now.

He took out the key and he placed it in the hole. He twisted his wrist to the side and there was a loud click. He opened it up and he went inside. As he shut it, Cornerstone woke up and her blood red eyes stared over at him in surprise and almost furious curiosity.

But Delta showed her no fear. He wasn't the former second in command for nothing. He raised his hand up and spoke in a calm yet commandeering voice. "You are coming with me."


	20. Binding

Penny struggled with all her might to get free. She jerked her body around, thrashing with her arms and legs, trying to force the Beanie Boys to release her. But they held on tightly, and she winced as her right arm was twisted roughly as a warning. Eventually, realizing that there was no escape, she stopped altogether and just scowled at them.

They were moving down a long corridor that twisted and winded towards the bottom, deep underground. It was poorly lit with just torches and small lights, but it was enough that she could make out the shape of this place. As they continued going in deeper and they reached the bottom step, it was then she realized that they were in some kind of dungeon. Whether or not Skrawl built it, she didn't know. But it was not out of place; Skrawl would have something like this. It suited him quite well.

There was a main corridor that had multiple cages. She could barely see it in the light. It was then she realized that the Beanie Boys must have some good night vision. How else would they be able to navigate such a dark and gloomy place?

To her surprise, they didn't take her to that big corrider with the multiple cages. Not even towards the one that was open, which was where she thought she would be going. Instead, they turned to another side, this one having a narrower hallway with no flickering lights, unlike the other hallway, and ended with a split on either side. As she was being forced to move through here, she couldn't help but feel her dread rising up inside of her. She wanted to get away, but she couldn't bring herself to even struggle.

Soon they reached the end of the thin hallway. Penny took a moment to look left and right. One hallway was bathed in darkness, while the other had a red tint to it. She didn't know which place was worse. She shut her eyes, not wanting to see which way the Beanie Boys ended up taking her.

Reluctantly, her eyes opened up as they gave a turn. She couldn't help it. A morbid curiosity prompted her to open her eyes to see which direction she was being taken in. She looked left and right and it took her only moments to realize that she was being carried down to the red side of the hallways. She gritted her teeth, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. There was something about this place that seemed almost permeating, like it was going through the inside of her, freezing her solid. Something was just...off.

The Beanie Boys continued on their way, seemingly unaffected by the red light. Soon, as they headed deeper still, their whole bodies seemed to glow with red. Penny looked down and was horrified herself to find her skin aglow as well, bathed in the horrid red light. Looking around, she struggled to see where the red light was coming from. Even as she craned her head almost beyond its capacity, she couldn't see anything that told her much. She clenched her teeth tightly. What was going on here?

After about five minutes of walking down the hallway with a red glow that seemed to come out of nowhere, she and the Beanie Boys soon came to a door on the end. The only door that was present here. Penny pondered in humorless amusement of why they would have such a long hallway if it only led up to here. She didn't have time to seriously ponder this question before the door was opened up and she was brought inside. Once inside, Penny looked around and she couldn't stifle her gasp of horror at what she saw.

Red chalk...

This place was filled with red chalk...

Fear clutched at Penny's throat. Her struggles increased greatly as she was being carried towards the center. There were two dark red poles here, likely made of metal, with silvery red loops around them with chains hanging down. It almost reminded her of a sacrificial altar. If this is anything like that...

Letting out a few terrified screams, intermixed with determined shouts, the girl struggled to get away. She fought against her Beanie Boy captors, her growls intermixing in the air. She tried to pull one of her arms free so she could strike. She tried to wrench a foot free to strike at another Beanie Boy. She went as far as try to bite them. She could hear her teeth clanging in the air as she struggled to sink them into a Beanie Boy's arm.

But her attempts were futile. Even if she could land a bite on a Beanie Boy, it was meaningless as there were several with her. The ones that weren't holding her were hovering close, ready to move in if she caused problems. Once she started to struggle, they joined in, aiding their fellow companions in holding her still. One even held her mouth shut so she couldn't attempt to bite anymore, or turn her head for that matter. All she could do now was watch as she was being carried towards the altar.

The Beanie Boys weren't exactly gentle as they hooked her up to it. Her arms were the first ones to go. The painful metal pinched her skin as the cuff was clamped around her wrists. Her arms were then stretched upwards at at their sides. Her legs followed suit. She winced as she felt the tight cuffs around her ankles pulling her legs down and out with some weight. Then a third shackle around her stomach attached her to both poles, and finally, her head was immobilized by a thin metal band that, like the waist band, attached to both poles. Well not totally immobilized, but her head movements were quite restricted now.

As she struggled to free herself, her mind's eye sifted through the images she had seen here. No blood or gore. No dead bodies. But something about this place just smelled wrong. She just couldn't quite place it. And the red chalk was everywhere. It grow mostly on the ceiling, but some also grew on the ground in bunches, almost like bushes she would see outside. The walls were red, or at least they glowed red thanks to the red chalk.

The room itself was round. Mostly anyway. It had a point at two ends, one in front of her and one behind her. The ceiling arched inward above her, creating a round tip. She thought she could see a flash of day light up there, indicating just how deep the hole is.

No...it wasn't daylight. She realized that it was light from a chalk chamber. But it was colored different from the main Chalk Mine that she and Rudy had visited. Her mind raced, struggling to come to terms with what this meant. How could there be another Chalk Mine? Was it possible that there were rogue patches in different spots? The thought of this filled her with conflicthing thoughts. A part of her was elated, but another was suspicious. What could lurk in these rogue mines?

The only thing she knew for certain is that this, no doubt, is where the red chalk here was growing from. She could traced the pattern of growth back up there, twisting around in small circles. Her thoughts began to piece together what must have happened. Skrawl must have known about this and he drilled up there but...why would he want red chalk?

Furthermore, why would he want her tied up like this, almost like a sacrifice? There was nothing to feed here, and though the red chalk was vicious, it was harmless unless a creator was touching it. Chained up here in midair, far away from the red chalk, she could feel relieve knowing that she would not have to worry about having to touch one of those vile things. But then a thought clicked in her mind.

How long would this last?

It was then that she heard a loud hiss. She turned her head and, to her horror, she could see something long and snake-like slither into the room. Even before those horrible red eyes were upon her, Penny recognized that it was Cornerstone. But...what was she doing here?

"I see you are confused."

Penny turned her head to the source of the voice. She could see a Beanie Boy situated near the center. The other Beanie Boys parted away from him to give him room. Though he looked no different than any other Beanie Boy save for the small scar visible on his cheek, Penny could tell there was something more significant about him. She glared at him as he got closer.

"My name is Delta, if you are wondering." The Beanie Boy said. His voice was surprisingly a little deeper and more pleasant to listen to than the other Beanie Boy's. "I know you are wondering why you were brought here."

Penny tried to be quiet, but her curiosity got the better of her. She struggled to move her chained head up and down. "I thought Snap told them to lock me up."

"Well technically yes... But Snap isn't the only high ranking general here."

Penny felt toxins in her mouth when she heard him refer to Snap as 'general'. Her mind swam back to what Rudy was saying before, about how it was Snap who was altered. She felt her heart beating and twisting at the thought of having been tricked. Could both of her friends had been so twisted? Or had it been just Snap all along?

She didn't have time to fully register this when Delta suddenly grabbed her chin. She hissed at the contact, but could do nothing as the Beanie Boy's face was put close to hers. He had a nasty grin spread along that rounded face. Unlike most, this was not a goofy smile. But one filled with pure malice and intent. He certainly wasn't like the other Beanie Boys. It was little wonder that he seemed to be in charge here.

"Snap outranks me...for now. I do plan on winning back Skrawl's favor." Explained Delta. "But enough about that. Let us talk about you..." He tilted his head to one side. "We've got plans for you."

"What are you going to do?" Penny asked. She did her best to sound brave. But her fear still rattled through her voice. "What did Snap tell you to do?"

Delta was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Snap has nothing to do with this. He did not order you to be taken here. But..." He shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like he'd care anyway."

"So this is Skrawl's doing?" Spat Penny.

Delta smirked. "Well...him and Thoughtless, if that's what you mean..."

Penny couldn't take it anymore. She was tired of listening to this Beanie Boy talk this way, like this was no big deal. She struggled against her chains, gritting her teeth. She tried to pull her arms out of the cuffs, only to yelp when she nearly tore her arm from its socket. She didn't give up just yet. She continued to struggle as hard as she could, trying to get the cuffs loose.

All the while, Delta just watched. The Beanie Boys watched him carefully, awaiting orders. But Delta did nothing but smile as Penny struggled. His arms folded behind his back, looked quite content, he did not appear concerned that she would break free.

And he was right. After what felt like many minutes of struggling, Penny's body finally gave out. Her heavy pants filled the air as she just hung there, several feet in the air, her head lowered. Her face was flushed from the effort and she could feel sweat moving down her forehead and cheeks. She found it difficult to move her eyes away, locked into a vicious glare with Delta. The smile creeping on his face unnerved her, but she was forced to remain staring into it.

"Why don't you stop struggling? You're only going to waste your energy." Delta said in a calm, quiet voice. "Then how could you be..." He raised his head up. "...accepted..?"

Penny stared at him in confusion. What was he talking about?

Catching the look in her eyes, Delta chuckled softly. "You really have no idea where you are, do you?" His voiced carried a false sympathy and confusion. "I thought you were the brains of the group. I thought you would piece together exactly what you are here for."

Penny hissed at him. "You going to sacrifice me to the red chalk?"

A pause. Then another chuckle. "Well...not quite that." Then his eyes widened in surprise. "Don't tell me that dear old Biclops didn't tell you!"

"What are you saying? Tell me what?" Penny demanded. She was about to continue speaking when a loud hiss from Cornerstone below her stopped her in her tracks. She looked down at the beast, her eyes slowly widening, and then she turned back to Delta.

The lead Beanie Boy folded his arms against his chest, looking all smug and proud. "I am confused by this plan myself, but Thoughtless insisted this is what Skrawl wanted. For you to be chained here in the... Travergence Circle. One of these hasn't been used for...oh how long has it been...?" He tapped his finger thoughtfully. "Tell me, do you remember how long ago Biclops was created...?"

Although she had no idea just where Delta was getting at, that didn't stop the chilling feeling from rising up inside of her. Penny felt a lump in her throat, licking her lips nervously. Just what was this zoner implying? What was this place? What were they going to do to her here? What was going to happen?

Many thoughts swam through her head rapidly. She struggled to turn her head right and left to look around the room again. She looked at all the red chalk around her, watching how they sparkled and glowed a menacing crimson. It was then she started to realize that the red chalk seemed to glow a little brighter now that she was inside. What significance did any of this have?

She looked back at Delta, whose expression and posture never changed. He just smirked at her darkly, a knowing expression on his face. It was clear that he knew what was going on, and he was deliberately withholding information from her, as if to torment her. The thought sickened Penny but also worried her. The fact that she didn't know what was going to happen ate away at her stomach and made her feel nauseaous. She almost wished that Skrawl would burst in here and explain his 'evil plan' to them all. At least he was a bit more direct than this.

Delta stared at her for a few moments, and then he flew in around behind her. Penny shuddered as she felt his hands on her shoulders. His mouth was placed next to hears and she could hear the harsh whisper in her ears. "Haven't you ever wondered where the red chalk came from...?"

Penny tried to jerk her head away. But the metal strap kept it in place. She forced her eyes to one side so she could look at the horrid Beanie Boy out of the corner of her eye. "No. Why should I care where this...this disgusting stuff came from?!" She ignored the angry flare of the red chalk around her when she said that.

"Well neither did I...for a time. But Thoughtless had made quite an interesting discovery." Delta said. "It hasn't yet told Skrawl, although it won't be long I imagine. After all, Skrawl was the one who ordered the research."

Penny wasn't sure how much of this was true. She had a feeling that this was Thoughtless's doing alone. It might be manipulating everyone around it to get whatever it wanted. She still wasn't sure what the beast's goal was in the end. All she knew was that it was an untrusthworthy creature that needed to be locked up. But she wasn't about to say that to the Beanie Boys. It wasn't like they were going to believe her.

She thought back to Snap. She felt a sting in her chest. She couldn't believe she had thought he was all right. She should have realized something was off quicker. Yet she had been so happy to see him again, it just never crossed her mind that he was corrupted. And Rudy...

She struggled not to cry at the memory of him. Regardless of his state, she still hurt him real bad. She had likely, most definitely, caused permanent damage to his right eye. She couldn't even tell if it was there anymore. There was just too much blood from that deep gash. It was an accident, but she couldn't help but wonder if they would ever remain close friends after this.

Delta placed his hand on her cheek, now directly in front of her. "Don't worry about your friends. Right now, you will have so much more to worry about." His grin darkened. "I can guarantee that you will never forget this."

With a low growl, Penny attempted to bite Delta. Her hand missed, her teeth clanging together, but she still continued to snarl at him, a low growl rumbling in her throat. Delta only looked at her with mild surprise. This casual reaction only seemed to increase her anger, and she felt her lips curling back into a snarl.

"My, my... quite a primal reaction you have there. I never thought that the most intelligent one could revert to such an animalistic state." Mocked Delta. "Could it be that you really aren't as 'together' as you like to think?"

Penny hissed, "Oh shut up, you floating piece of filth!"

Delta only chuckled at this, a fact that increased Penny's growling. "It would seem it's working already."

Penny immediately stopped at this, confusion replacing her previous anger. "What do you mean?"

"Take a look around you, Penny Sanchez." Delta spread his large hands and arms outwards, indicating the room that they were in. Penny looked around the best she could, but she still couldn't see what he was talking about. She looked back at him. Delta smirked at this. "You really don't see it, do you? You cannot see the red chalk clawing for you? Into your mind and body?"

"The only thing I notice is the bright glowing." Penny replied, her voice surprisingly calmer than she thought it would be. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Delta gave her a serious, stern look, though a smile still graced his face. "You mean you haven't noticed your skin?"

Confused, Penny looked down at her arm the best she could. It was hard at this angle, but she was able to see enough. She had to move her hread over as much as possible before she coud get a clear view. She ignored the pain in her head and neck as she did this, and soon she saw her skin a bit clearly. It was then that she noticed the small glow that appeared to be spreading through. Her heart nearly stopped beating.

"I-I'm..." She choked unable to finish. She looked at Delta in horror.

"Yes..." Delta smirked darkly. "You are going to become one with the red chalk."

"N-No! I-I won't...!" Penny immediately started to struggle. Delta hardly react, acting as if this was just a minor annoyance. "Please...I can't...!"

"Well, not without proper help of course." Delta clapped his hands a few times.

In that instant, Cornerstone slithered over towards her. The beast's jaws held something that Penny soon recognized as white chalk. She then began to climb up one of the poles holding Penny. The girl watched with apprehension as the long, snake-like zoner managed to place the white chalk against one of her hands. Her paws closed around it, forcing her to grip it tightly. With the cuffs, Penny couldn't draw anything even if Cornerstone wasn't holding onto her hand.

"This will help things along." Delta moved around in a slow circle, watching Penny's horrified face the whole time. "Soon, you will join the others."

Penny's frozen mind began to process what this meant. She thought of all the red chalk around her. A terrifying realization creeped along her. She didn't want to believe it. A part of her wanted to keep denying it. But she couldn't fight back the truth for long. And once it reached its toll, all she could do was collapse, her head hanging low. Tears from the intense emotion began to stream down her face.

"Oh don't be too upset."

Penny looked up and stared at Delta. She couldn't even muster up the strength to frown at him. Her face held only despair and fear.

"I'm not too sure of this myself. This is quite a...strange thing to do." Delta admitted. "But if this is what Skrawl wants, then it's what Skrawl will get." He looked over at the other Beanie Boys and nodded to them, saying, "Report to Thoughtless. Let him know the Altar Ritual has begun."

Penny watched as the other Beanie Boys left. They flew out of the room rather swiftly. A part of her dimly wondered if this was because they were afraid of what was going to happen here. Most zoners seemed to carry an innate fear of the red chalk. She wondered momentarily why Thoughtless didn't seem afraid, or Cornerstone. Those thoughts were fleeting as she shut her eyes, not caring if her captors saw her cry.

"Oh Penny, Penny... It's not going to be so bad..."

Penny looked at Delta, letting a few tears stroll down her face.

Delta smiled at her. "You will be immortal soon, in a sense. That should make you happy, right?"

Penny didn't bother replying. She just looked downward the best she could, keeping her eyes shut. She didn't want to listen to this zoner anymore. All she wanted was to be alone for a while, to contemplate what happened, to make sense of all of this. She just wanted to be alone. Almost fortunately, Delta seemed to see it that way, too. Almost.

"I will leave you here. It shouldn't take too long, I promise. Oh it will hurt eventually, but then you will feel no more pain. And don't worry, you will have Cornerstone here to keep you company. I'm sure she will be most pleased to help make this process so much easier. And don't worry about what will happen to your body. We have a place for it."

Penny didn't bother looking when she heard the footsteps retreating. She didn't bother opening her eyes when the doors were slammed shut, leaving her in the heavy red glow. All she could do was remain silent, her mind becoming a blank as despair and horror gripped her tightly. Uncaring about Cornerstone being there, no longer able to hold back, she opened her mouth and she began to sob.

sss

Pain and agony..

Darkness and misery...

That's all Rudy could feel at the moment. His world was dark all around. He could see no shapes. He could percieve nothing. He could feel nothing. Well, nothing except the powerful pain in his head, and the crushed emotion that now occupied his mind.

He laid on the ground, not daring to move. He had been a wake for a while, but in that time, he could only see darkness and feel pain, both physical and emotional. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, the emotional pain. He felt as though someone had done him a great injustice, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what that was. Did it have something to do with his head? Maybe if he opened his eyes...

Suddenly he let out a loud scream and clutched where his right eye should be. He could feel something soft there. Something was tied around there. Was this causing the pain? No, it was too soft. He felt nothing sharp in his eye. A previous injury? He removed his hand and stared at the red blood that now clung to his palm. The sight of it caused his mind to flash.

Snap...his corruption..

Penny, who didn't believe him...

The struggle... the fight...

Trying to save Penny...

Penny trying to stop him...

The collision with the shelf and the pain that followed...

Rudy shut his good eye tightly as the horrible memories came flooding back to him. Along with that, a mixture of puzzling emotions. He felt something warm coming out of his left eye and he realized that it was tears. Not just of physical pain, but emotional as well. When he reopened his left eye, he could see that he was...somewhere. But where, he didn't care to think about at the moment.

Penny.. She..she was the one who hurt him... She was the reason he was like this... She was the one who attacked his eye.

No...it was an accident, wasn't it? He vaguely remembered her words. It was an accident. She had only been trying to get him away from Snap. She didn't understand what was really going on. He couldn't blame her for what happened, could he? It was just an accident...

But he couldn't stop the burning, sickening feeling of anger and betrayal from rising up inside of his chest. He couldn't stop the burning sensation from spreading throughout his head, fighting back any positive feeling he had for Penny. The anger was stronger than the happiness, and it soon won out. All he could do now was thinkg bitterly of Penny and hope that she eventually got some karma to strike her for what she did. How could she have betrayed him like this...?

Rudy pushed himself up from the ground. He ignored the pains in his body, from both old and new injuries, and sat himself up. He pressed his back against what he realized was a rocky, cold surface. He turned his left eye upwards towards the ceiling, looking at the pretty rock formations before him. The sight of them was a bit pleasant, and it was enough to start ebbing at his previous anger towards Penny. He lightly shut his eye, feeling some moment of peace amidst his pain.

This was short-lived when he heard footsteps somewhere in the cave. Rudy looked left and right, trying to find the source. The footsteps were a bit far away, but this was of little comfort to him. With his mouth drying, his mind snapping back to full reality, he looked around the room again and he quickly realized where he was.

He was in the Chalk Mine. With a corrupted Biclops not too far away.

But..how did he get here? He didn't recall walking here at any point. He didn't remember trying to seek this place out, and certainly not all by himself. Just..how did he get here? His mind swam rapidly as he struggled to find the answers. Somewhere in his skull, there had to be answers, right? There just had to be an explanation for all of this. He just had to think harder and maybe it would come to him.

Then he could feel a memory coming in from the back of his head. It floated up towards the front of his forehead, pulsating, helping him remember another detail that he had nearly forgotten about. At this realization, his eyes widened.

There was a machine in the room he was in before. He couldn't recall all the details, but he did remember that it was a teleporter. Snap, he was trying to get them in that teleporter, wasn't he? He had succeeded with him. And he was brought here, in the center of the Chalk Mine, no doubt riddled with traps now, since Biclops no longer saw him as a friend. And Penny...she might be in here as well.

He felt a conflicting sensation grip his chest. A part of him felt fear for Penny. He wanted to find her, wherever she might be in here, and help her. He wanted to be there with her, and the two of them could work together to get out of here. They had always made a good team before. Why should this be any different?

But then he froze, and a dark glare moved across his face. Why should he care about Penny? She was the one who half-blinded him. Even if he had a piece of white chalk now, it would be hard for him to draw anything as he no longer had any depth perception. And it was all because of her. He felt his teeth baring as he thought about her, and her traitorous act. He tried to remind himself it was an accident, but those thoughts were banished by his burning anger.

He wasn't sure what he was going to do if he saw Penny in here. Would his rational side win out and help her? Or would he be too consumed by his own anger to even begin to help her? He wasn't sure, and in the moment, frankly, he didn't care. All he wanted to do right now was begin to walk, to traverse through this danger-filled cave, and hope that he found a way out of here and soon.

His biggest concern right now was Biclops. He knew that he had been altered. There was no doubt about that. He remembered their last encounter. The memory still chilled him. He gave a small shudder, trying to push back the image of such a vicious Biclops out of his mind. After so long of seeing Biclops's friendly smile and his gentle disposition, to see him in such a dark state frightened him to his very core. He didn't fancy the idea of running into Biclops deep in the caverns, the tunnels that he didn't know well but Biclops did.

Now on his feet, steadying himself against the wall, Rudy swallowed nervously. He could taste the bitterness in his saliva, and he could feel the fear situated in his stomach, making him want to throw up. He had to force himself to hold it together, reminding himself that he needed to focus on getting out of here. All he had to do was try to find a familiar tunnel and he could probably sneak through the caves without Biclops noticing.

There was something else he realized that caused his eyes to light up. The magic chalk... He could finally get some magic chalk.. All he needed was a single piece and he could finally defend himself. He could subdue Biclops safely, keeping him from hurting anyone, and he could do something about the memotrice, and of course Skrawl.

But before he could, of course he would need to figure a way out of this place. There wasn't much he could do while he was trapped over here, unsure of which direction to go. He didn't recognize this part of the Chalk Mine, which meant that getting out was going to be quite tricky. How was he going to be able to pull this off?

Then he realized, he did have some sort of guide. Biclops's voice just might work. He could finally tell where it was coming from. It wasn't getting any quieter or louder, indicating the giant had at last stopped. If he could just locate Biclops and stay out of his sight, he might be able to find his way out of this place. He could follow the giant until he was near the entrance. After that, all he would have to do was wait until the giant came in, and then he could make his move. Grab some chalk and flee.

With that plan in mind, Rudy began to make his way down through the tunnels. Moving along was a bit slower for his taste, and he couldn't help but wince in pain as he felt the throbbing in his body, strongest in his damaged eye. Trying to walk through here without depth perception was difficult, and the boy found himself using his hands as guidance, allowing him to know just how close he really was to the walls.

But despite the difficulty, he was able to make slow, albeit painful, progress. He kept moving down the tunnels at a steady pace, making his way ever closer to wherever Biclops was. He tried to move quickly yet quietly. He didn't want to lose Biclops's location, but he also didn't want to give himself away. In his state, Biclops could easily get him.

So far, the trip down seemed to be pretty easy. He hadn't had too much difficulty. Even with the pain rattling through his body, making progress around here wasn't too bad, and he was able to keep up the pace. He stared ahead intently, looking for any signs of shadow or traps along the walls and ground. He didn't know if Biclops had any allies in here, but he was not going to take the chance. Rudy occasionally did a full visual sweep of the area, looking for anything that looked dangerous. Even when he was sure he was alone, he was still quite unnerved.

Miraculously, he soon came to a familiar tunnel. He remembered this one, back when Snap had first shown him the red chalk chamber, before they even knew what it was. The memory made Rudy grit his teeth. He wished he hadn't gone into that stupid chamber. If he hadn't, then he and Snap could have avoided that whole mess. But on the positive side, it was that very incident that allowed him to figure out that he was near the front of the mine. He slowed his pacing and continued forward, soon coming to the end of the tunnel that stretched out in large expanse of a room, one that he instantly recognized.

It was the front of the cave, as well as the white chalk chamber. There was no mistaking it. This was the one room he had been in when he first arrived at the mines. He knew this place quite well. As if to confirm, he could see the colorful sparkles that indicated the white chalk's presence. He lifted his head up and stared up at the ceiling, which was decorated with overhanging structures of white chalk.

The sight of them made him smile. He could feel his chest flutter, filling with hope. All he had to do was walk over to one and take a piece of chalk, and he no longer had to fear being defenseless. The chalk was right there, ripe for the taking. All he had to do was walk out there and...

He stopped himself, his eyes going wide. He had nearly forgotten about Biclops. The giant was still present. He could see him off to the side. He looked like he was cooking something. Perhaps some kind of meal or snack most likely. The giant's back was turned to him. There was no indication that Biclops even know that he was there. His two large eyes, hidden from Rudy's view, were focused only on whatever he was cooking. Rudy watched him warily for a few moments before turning his attention to the nearest bunch of white chalk.

It was such a huge risk. He knew that if he messed this up, he was in big trouble. The entrance might not be far, but would he even make it over there before Biclops grabbed onto him? Just how far was he going to get before Biclops's huge strides carried him over? Just how was he going to pull this off?

He couldn't wait too long. He needed to act swiftly. There was no telling if the giant was going to go outside or not. For all he knew, he might come over this way, and then he'd spot him for sure. At least if he grabbed a piece of white chalk, he could try to create some cover for himself so the giant wouldn't notice him. He just had to be quick on the draw with it. A difficult task when he had only one eye, but he still needed to try.

He looked over at Biclops for a few moments and then he turned his head back to the white chalk batch that was close to where he was. Licking his lips nervously, casting aside the pain, he began to make his way over to it slowly, carefully. He made sure that each footstep was a tiptoe. A soft touching of ground, his fingers sliding along the wall silently, his presence creating no noise for Biclops to catch up on. His eyes focused at the batches of white chalk, getting closer and closer to them as he moved along.

Soon he reached the batch of white chalk. He was only a few feet in front of it now. He stared at it intently. The sparkly rainbow bits that bounced off were both exciting and calming to look at. He slowed his pace and took his time getting over there. He knew that he should hurry, but a part of him didn't see the reason. After all, he was right here, wasn't he? Right in front of the chalk. There was no way Biclops could get to him before he grabbed a piece.

Speaking of the giant, he turned his hand and he looked behind him. The giant didn't even seem to know that he was there. A small smile came over the boy's face. He was so close now. He could almost taste it. He turned his attention back to the white chalk. Licking his lips, he reached over, preparing to grab a piece.

But when his hand came to touch it, something unexpected happened.

His hand went through.

Rudy's eyes bulged open. What..? What was going on here..? He tried to reach for the chalk again, only to have his hand move through the pieces of chalk once more. It was a weird, tingly sensation as he moved his hand through the empty space that he could have sword had magic chalk in its presence. He moved his hand around almost frantically, trying to see if he could grab at least one piece of chalk. But try as he might, he just couldn't.

He withdrew his hand and stared at the batch of white chalk. Why couldn't he grab onto any of them? Why was there nothing solid here? He could see the chalk. It was practically beckoning him to grab and pull. But there was...there was nothing there. Just a blank space.

Suddenly a chuckle ripped through the room. Rudy stiffened up, feeling his blood run cold. He knew that voice all too well. The voice that he'd normally be happy to see, but now was terrified of. He looked left and right, hearing Biclops's laughter bounce off the walls.

"You really think it would have been that easy, Rudy Tabootie?" The voice scowled with a mixture of harshness and amusement. "I didn't think it would be this easy. Then again, Snap did design these traps for me. I must say, he did a good job, don't you think?"

As Rudy looked around, trying to undersatnd how the voice could be bouncing this way, he began to notice that everything around him was starting to ripple and shake. His eyes widened as he looked left and right, noticing the imagery around him being to fall down like someone had sprayed it with a water bottle. As it all came down, he soon realized that he wasn't where he thought he was.

He was in a large, dome-like prison.

"The Illusionary Receptors worked surprisingly well." Biclops said. Rudy turned his head and saw that the giant was leaning against the structure, a smug smile on his usually amiable face. "He is quite the genius, smarter than I ever gave him credit for." He could see the questioning look in Rudy's eyes and he pulled his head back, that same smile still on his face. "You were being decieved, Rudy Tabootie. You were being led right into a trap. You fall for it, hook, line, and sinker. I thought you would be tougher than that. I see that I was wrong. A little disappointing, but it does save me the trouble."

Rudy's mind raced as he processed what had happened to him. He looked all around, seeing the thick glass that now encased him, the brilliant lights above him indicating that they could show him anything the giant wanted him do. Including things out of his nightmares. He breathed heavily as he realized this, taking a few steps back. The fact that the room he was trapped in was empty did little to alter his opinion of the situation. He looked back up at the giant, his mouth having dropped open in fear and shock.

"Wh-What are you going to do...?" Rudy found himself whispering softly.

Somehow the giant was able to hear this, and he sneered at Rudy, "Exactly what you deserve." His glare grew colder and harsher. "You've caused enough trouble. I think it's time that you suffered some karma. And I believe I know just where to start..."

Rudy was silent as he watched Biclops go towards a panel that was hooked up to the dome. It was near one of the walls of the cave. The dome was located in what Rudy guessed was one of the largest rooms in the deepest part of the cave tunnels. This dome just barely fit. He didn't pay much attention to that as he watched Biclops press something. He could hear varying clicking sounds and he realized the giant was crunching in a number of some kind.

No. He realized he wasn't a number. It was some kind of command. His eyes widened. Just what was this giant going to do?

"There. It will take a few moments to warm up, but I believe this will keep you entertained for a while, Rudy Tabootie." Biclops said as he took a few steps back, his arms folding against his chset. "Don't mind me. I'm just going to...watch."

Before Rudy knew it, everything around him began to grow bright. He had to shield his left eye from the light, which seemed to penetrate and burn his pupils. He could hear the sounds of whirring and clanging as the device began to create a new scenario for him. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and he took a look around. As soon as he did, he instantly regretted it. His neck hairs raised, a shiver went through his body, and his pupil shrank into a tiny dot, almost invisible on his face.

He was surrounded by zoners from the Night Zone. The zombie zoners who could tear their limbs off with ease. The same zoners that had nearly tried to kill him not so long ago. And there, standing in front of them, gleaming viciously in his direction, was the zoner who led them. White claws glistened in the light as they were raised, a nasty grin spreading across the orange head, glowing yellow eyes staring into his soul.

It was Jacko.

Rudy found himself taking a few steps back. His racing mind remembered what happened during his last encounter. Despite him having defeated Jacko, any confidence he had before was gone. For some reason, all he could feel towards him right now was fear. It was as if the cold icy grip of terror had him by his throat. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't free himself. He couldn't even attempt to run when Jacko, or the illusion of Jacko, started to walk towards him.

"Well, well, well... look what we have there. It's Rudy Tabootie!" Jacko sneered. He looked at Rudy up and down, examining him, before he spread his hands outward. "I knew you would come! I've been hoping that you'd be joining us. We are going to have so much fun...you and I..."

Rudy only gulped and looked up at Jacko with a wide, terrified left eye as Jacko came even closer. He stared at his claws and his mind flashed to when Jacko had tried to use them against him. As they were being raised again, all he could do was watch, his shivering body glued to its spot.

At first, he thought he would feel nothing. After all, this was just an illusion, right? Surely it wouldn't be able to do anything...

Suddenly the claws struck and Rudy let out a cry of pain. The claws passed through his body, leaving behind no mark. But the pain... Oh gawd, the pain... It really felt like Jacko had just ripped into his side with his claws. He knew they would hurt, but he never thought just how badly. He dropped down onto his knees and clutched his side, tears dripping down his face.

"If you think that was painful, Rudy..." Jacko chuckled. "Wait until I target your head!"

The boy forced himself to look up and he stared at Jacko in horror.


	21. Switching Roles

"You did what?!"

Skrawl's voice echoed in the room. The Beanie Boys present cringed, moving back away from him. They all looked at him in horror. Not one of them dared to move or speak a word. They all knew that when Skrawl got like this, it was best to keep away from him. Any wrong move or word could set him off at this point.

About the only one who wasn't cowering away was Snap. He stood right next to the jellybean, his narrowed eyes fixated on the one who Skrawl was glaring at. The small zoner's arms were folded against his chest and he had a similar look of shock and disgust on his face. Whether or not it was from knowing why this was a huge mistake or if he was just mad because Skrawl was mad wasn't certain. Not that anyone really cared to ask.

Delta was the unfortunate recipient of the glares. The former second-in-command was fumbling with his fingers, his head lowered in submission. He was stammering, struggling to find something to say. His wide eyes were averted to the ground, too afraid to look at the angered jellybean in the face. It was clear he was trying not to, but his whole body was starting to shiver violently as he realized just how much he had really screwed up.

Skrawl was trying his best not to blow his top at the Beanie Boy. He did like this one. Always so loyal and so punctual, possessing great leadership. There was a reason why he was his second-in-command for so long. He would really want to have to resort to punishing him.

But this... Of all the stupid, idiotic things...

He just didn't know what got into Delta. Why did he thought that this was a good idea? How could he go through with this, especiall without his permission? Skrawl never approved of this plan. He was never consulted once. Delta just seemed to think it was a good idea and he went out on his own to full fill it. He just...couldn't believe it. He had never done anything like this before, so what possessed him to do something like this now? Why would he risk getting punished to go through with a convoluted plan like this? They didn't even know if it would work and using Penny for it...

He tried to calm himself down. He wasn't going to get anywhere with this interrogation. Clearly someone had tricked Delta, perhaps a zoner who was trying to stir up some disorder here. That's what Snap believed, anyway. Taking the blue zoner's suggestion, he began to pry into Delta and make him confess who was the zoner who had the idea.

"Who told you this?" Skrawl asked. His voice was forcibly calm, slightly shaky. Delta just stared at him in fear. Skrawl narrowed his eyes. "I gave you permission to speak, Delta. Tell me who it was!"

"B-But sir...y-you should know..." Delta whimpered softly. "Y-You approved of it and..."

Skrawl silenced him by raising his claws up swiftly and showed the sharp tips to the Beanie Boy. This caused Delta to whimper and take a few steps back. "I never approved of this plan! I never told you to put Penny in that chamber!"

Snap nodded his head. "If he had that sort of plan, he would have told me." He motioned to himself before lowering his hand down. "If I didn't know about it, then there was no such plan." He gained a slight smirk. "And you were second-in-command before me.." He scoffed. "What a joke."

Delta glared at him and was about to speak when Skrawl cut him off, "I don't know what's gotten into you. You never disappointed me before. Well I guess there's a first time for everything, huh?" He narrowed his mismatched eyes deeply, a low growl eminating from the corner of his mouth. Delta gulped and cringed away from him further. "I will think of your punishment later. But first...tell me who had ordered this plan..."

"You don't... You don't remember...?" Delta sounded incredulous, as if he couldn't believe that Skrawl forgot, despite the fact that this plan that he mentioned was never discussed by him. Skrawl simply glared at him while Snap made a gesture for him to confess. Delta took in a few breaths and he finally gave his answer. "I-It was Thoughtless..."

Skrawl's eyes widened at this. Snap looked perplexed himself, leaning back and staring at the Beanie Boy in curiosity. Skrawl looked around, noting that the other Beanie Boys were nodding their heads slowly, as if to confirm. But he still had to be sure. "Thoughtless...? Did you say...Thoughtless?"

Delta nodded his head. He spoke in a soft voice. "Yes, sir."

"Thoughtless was the one to told you of this plan?" Skrawl asked. Upon another nod, he continued, "And it told you that I had agreed to the plan?"

"Well no..." Delta rubbed the back of his head. "I...kind of remember you telling me about it."

"But I never...!"

Suddenly, Skrawl went silent. His mouth hung open, his eyes wide. He stared at Delta, who was still cringing from him, teeth gritted as he waited for him to continue. Skrawl just continued to stare somewhat blankly as he thought about what the zoner had just told him. He remained frozen there for a few moments, his mind slowly processing.

"I never told you about the plan..." Skrawl whispered softly as he straightened himself up. His eyes, still wide, stared out ahead, no longer looking at anyone in particular. Snap looked up at him in confusion and the Beanie Boys looked like they wanted to say something. But in Skrawl's condition, it was unlikely they would have gotten through to him.

Skrawl's mind was presently preoccupied with rapidly moving thoughts as he slowly began to realize what happened. Upon hearing Thoughtless's name, and hearing how Delta had 'remembered' that he had approved the plan, it didn't take long for him to put the pieces of the puzzle together. There was only one explanation for it. It wasn't a thought he wanted to believe, but with the evidence before him, there was really only one conclusion that the jellybean could come up with.

Thoughtless had been manipulating his Beanie Boys.

Skrawl was left stunned, unable to speak a word, unable to move. The full impact of what this meant was slowly striking him in the face. Not only did Thoughtless do something like this, but it had done so behind his back with a plan that it had never told him about. It had been working in secret with some sort of hidden agenda. Just how long had Thoughtless been doing this? What else had it done?

It wasn't that Skrawl minded the memotrice's powers. That was the whole reason he teamed up with it. But the fact that it had used said powers on his own Beanie Boys... That was never part of the deal. His Beanie Boys were for him and him only to control. Thoughtless was never given permission to do anything with them without his permission, and now that it had gone and done something like that...

Skrawl gritted his teeth tightly. He was going to have to speak to Thoughtless as soon as possible. He needed to reestablish leadership and remind Thoughtless that he was the one who released it from its prison. He could just as easily send it back there if it did something else like this.

Skrawl turned and looked down at Snap. "You decide the punishment for Delta."

Snap casted a sneer over at Delta and chuckled. Delta just glared at him, but there was now a slight grimace of fear to his eyes. Snap's smile broadened at this. He looked up at Skrawl and asked, "So...I can do anything I want to him?"

"Yes, I don't care!" Skrawl told him. "Just as long as you keep him alive. He's no use to me dead."

"Oh don't worry. I'll keep him alive." Snap chuckled as he glared evilly in Delta's direction, who returned with a glare of his own. The rivalry between those two was becoming quite plain for everyone to see.

But Skrawl did not care. He had something else more important to worry about right now. "I am going to go have a word with Thoughtless. I want none of you to leave this room until I get back. Got it?"

After Snap and the Beanie Boys nodded their heads, Skrawl left the room, shutting the door behind him. He began to make his way down the corridor, heading straight for the chambers that contained Thoughtless. He was going to make sure that memotrice didn't step out of line again.

sss

Thoughtless focused its attention on this page. It was quite a curious one at that. Red chalk was quite an interesting thing. It was different from the rest of the chalk and not just in powers, either. It held a different quality to it. Something that, far as it knew, no other chalk had. If there was any others that did, it had no knowledge of it.

It wondered for a moment if any zoner had ever tried to harness it. None of the records had stated this. At least, not recently. When the red chalk was first created, there had been attempts, yes. Apparently, the zoners thought that combining white chalk with geomites would result in zoner-useable chalk. If they had succeeded at any point, it certainly wasn't with red chalk. This crimson shade of chalk had only desire for destruction.

But perhaps the biggest reason why it didn't work was because it wasn't just geomites they had put into the chalk. There was also the fact that it also contained...

"Thoughtless!"

The memotrice jolted at that voice. It instantly recognized it as Skrawl, but the tone was much angrier than it had ever heard the jellybean scream. It turned his head and it could see the doorknob turning and in burst that enranged green jellybean now.

Skrawl's face was the portrait of rage. The teeth were bared more so than usual, grinding and gnashing. His face flushed red. His eyes narrowed into slits. His fists clinched tightly, the claws threatening to pierce his own skin. His body hunched forward and trembling. It looked as if Skrawl was using up all of his mental strength not to fight back. It wouldn't be surprised if this were the case.

Thoughtless closed the book and stepped onto the edge of its nest. (Skrawl, what brings you here?)

"Don't play stupid with me!" Skrawl hissed at him.

Thoughtless blinked a few times. (I really don't know what you are talking about.) It motioned its wing towards him. (Why don't you elaborate?)

Skrawl bared his teeth at him. "Don't try to act like you don't know!" He pointed an accusatory finger in his direction. "You were controlling my Beanie Boys without my permission!" He paused for a moment as if to let Thoughtless sink this into its mind. Then he added, his voice with even more tinged anger. "And you had been planning behind my back! You had my Beanie Boys take Penny into a red chalk root that I found and you're going to..."

(I understand you are upset. But I felt it was best that if...)

"Best?! We're supposed to be a team, you and I!" Skrawl shouted at the memotrice, taking a few steps towards it. "I am the leader! I am first in command! If you had any ideas, you should have reported them to me! Making plans behind my back like this is.. It's treason! Mutiny!"

Thoughtless stared at him for a few moments. It had a feeling that Skrawl would have been upset, so his reaction was not a surprise. What did shock it was the fact that Skrawl seemed to have found out faster than it had predicted. The memotrice let out a sigh. (I was not planning a mutiny.)

"Then why were you trying to carry out a plan that I didn't approve of?" Skrawl asked, his voice dangerously tinged.

Thoughtless stared at Skrawl in silence. It struggled to think of how it could handle this situation. What could it say to Skrawl that would appease him? It knew it should have thought its plans through better. It knew something like this would happen, and yet it didn't fully plan out for it. As a result, it was stuck, uncertain of what to do or what to say to Skrawl. It knew it had to think of something and fast; Skrawl was clearly not in the mood for games.

It lowered its head as it tried to think of something. It wasn't sure how long the jellybean was going to wait before he took action. But could it really come up with a solution this fast? It needed more time to think. More time to plan. But now that Skrawl knew...

Wait a minute... Why was it so worried for? Did it truly forget what it was? This wasn't a problem for it. Not for a zoner like it. And besides, this could be the best time to make a few...changes around here. It had its own agenda and it was tired of playing second banana to this guy. Taking over ChalkZone... What a stupid idea. What it had in mind was much better and more fulfilling than something as empty as that. It had been working on this behind the scenes, but now it could come into the forefront of the plan.

All it needed to do was take care of one small detail.

It lifted up its head and stared directly into Skrawl's eyes. The memotrice began to approach him slowly, raising its wings up. Skrawl immediately realized something was wrong and started to back away from it.

"Now, now...no need for hostilities.." Skrawl said, waving his hand out in front of him. "Come on now... I didn't mean to upset you."

The memotrice didn't reply. It just continued to approach the jellybean, picking up some speed when Skrawl was trying to get away faster.

"Wh-What are you doing? A-Are you going to...?"

Thoughtless simply smiled at this. It didn't speak a word. This expression alone was enough for Skrawl to realize what might be happening. Immediately, the jellybean turned himself around and ran towards the door, hoping to get out before anything happened. The memotrice was swifter and it rushed in front of him before he could get out. Skrawl raised his hand up to strike, but his first blow missed, the memotrice zipping and flexing to one side. As Skrawl tried for another blow, Thoughtless jumped at him, ramming its body against his.

With a loud 'oof' sound, Skrawl was now on his back. He looked up at Thoughtless, who was now perched on his body and chest. For a few moments, Skrawl just laid there, looking stunned. Was it because he finally realized what was going on? Or was it because he was shocked at the memotrice's strength? It was difficult to tell, but Thoughless cared not. It watched as Skrawl's expression went from shock to anger.

"You...I should have known...! Y-You were manipulating me the whole time, weren't you?! And my Beanie Boys?!" Skrawl screamed at him, his eyes blazing with anger. Thoughtless only smirked at this. "You traitor! I freed you! How could you do this to me?!"

(I do appreciate you freeing me. And this is nothing personal. You see...I just have my own plans.) Thoughtless was as calm as ever. This seemed to irritate Skrawl further. (No need to get upset. It's not like I planned on hurting you or your precious Beanie Boys.)

Skrawl's eyes narrowed further. "That's not the point! If you were planning something, you should have just told me! I might have been able to help! We were supposed to be a team!"

(Some team.) Thoughtless tilted its head to one side. (You only care about yourself and your own goals. The only reason you agreed to help find those swords, which I had lied about, by the way, falsely implanted memories into you...) Thoughtless paused, letting Skrawl realize just how much he was duped at that point, and how pointless those searches really had been. (You wanted to use those swords' powers for yourself. As soon as you found them, if they truly existed, you would have used them against me and then take over ChalkZone, am I right?)

Skrawl spluttered at this. For a while, he couldn't seem to form any coherent words. He just stared that the memotrice with a mixture of shock and anger. When he finally could say something, all that would come out was, "Y-You..."

(That's right. I manipulated you even then. I was curious to see how you would react to the offer, and I was careful to listen to you...and your mind. What I found did not please me, Skrawl. You only helped me for your own purposes and you planned on using me even now. So I just...) Thoughtless pressed its claws slightly against Skrawl, making him flinch. (...making things a little more even...)

Skrawl's body shook in rage. His face began to flush a little red. His burning eyes seemed to stare straight into the memotrice's soul. He opened his mouth and let out an enraged scream as he raised his hand up to prepare to strike. Thoughtless showed no fear as it watched the hand, the clawtips glinting in the light.

(I do not plan on getting rid of you, Skrawl.) The memotrice simply said. (You should be happy that things weren't as bad as they could have been. You saw what I did to those guards. Would you really have preferred that kind of fate...?)

"Shut up! I'm going to kill you!" Skrawl's tone of voice suggested that he was beyond reasoning now. His arm muscles tightened and it would be any second when he unleashed his wrath against him. Thoughtless had to act fast.

Moving faster than Skrawl would have believed it could, Thoughtless shot its head forward, getting its face closer to Skrawl's. The eyes locked together and almost instantly, there was a bright flash of light that seemed to fill the room for a few nanoseconds. Skrawl blinked a few times, stunned by this. When his own eyes came into view of the memotrice's, they suddenly froze and remain locked with them. A beam of light eminated from the memotrice's, swallowing Skrawl's eyes up in the process.

Immediately, the jellybean's body relaxed, becoming somewhat limp. His mouth opened up partially as the beams continued to push into his eyes. He no longer tried to speak or fight back. He was completely locked in the trance. Thoughtless peered even closer, its narrowed eyes overlooking Skrawl briefly to make sure he was fully under its control. Only then did it lift its head up slightly, arching it in an S sharp, glaring at Skrawl.

It could see Skrawl's mind opening up inside its own. All of Skrawl's memories came flooding out to him, almost dancing along the inside of its skull. A tingly sensation went through the memotrice's body. Doing this always felt so good... but it still drained it if it did it too much. It needed to be careful. It did not waste time and it began to 'flip through' Skrawl like he was some kind of visual storybook.

Now where was it... Oh yes, here. Inside its mind's eye, as vivid as in real life, Thoughtless could see the moment they had met. It was already out of the cage at this point, going up against the guards. Now time for a little rewind and a little alteration. Blue and green lines seemed to shoot into the memory and swirled around everything, gradually changing things. Thoughtless could see the changes happening before it. These lines were only seen by him; to Skrawl, it would be like recalling forgotten details.

As it began to do this, it started to speak to Skrawl, just as it had with Biclops and Snap when it had fun with them.

(You had relinquished leadership to me, remember? When you rescued me, you were in such awe of my power, you allowed me to take over, and you allowed me control of your Beanie Boys. I am the one who calls all the shots. Have you forgotten about that?)

At first, Skrawl tried to resist. He attempted to shake his head, trying to pull it out of the memotrice's gaze. But the trance was so deep, his body wasn't listening to him anymore, and he remained there. His mouth, however, was working. "No...that's not.. I freed you and..you had..."

Thoughtless shook its head slightly. (No. Try to think. I understand if you forgot. Just think harder.)

"I...I... I am sure that you...agreed to help me..." Skrawl stammered.

(You were the one who agreed to listen to me. You were the one who wanted to obey me. You were all in for my plan.) Thoughtless spoke like a parent to a child. Calmly but sternly, its eyes never leaving Skrawl's. (Try to think...and you will remember...)

After a few moments, Skrawl slowly nodded his head. "...yes..I remember now..." The jellybean breathed softly. "You are...my master..."

Thoughtless smiled at this. (Good. So you remember.) It pulled its head back further, the S shape becoming even more pronounced than before. (So you know what I want you to do, right? Remember the next part of the plan?)

Skrawl nodded his head slowly. "You want...me to get Rudy...and give him to the...red chalk..."

Thoughtless nodded its head. (Now you remember. Good boy. Now...) Thoughtless jumped off of Skrawl's chest and stood a few feet away from him. It watched as Skrawl climbed up to his feet shakingly. That blank look was still in his eyes. Temporary; it should go away quickly. (Why don't you pay Biclops a visit? Relinquish the duty of Rudy over to you? If he's difficult...)

Thoughtless walked away from Skrawl, who stood there, waiting eagerly for his assignment. The memotrice looked around underneath its nest. Now where did it put it...? It should be in here somewhere... Ah yes, here it is. Thoughtless pulled out a small sliver of red. Hard as metal and sharp as a knife. It examined it carefully before tossing it to Skrawl.

(Use that on him.)

Skrawl caught the piece, a surprising feat considering his condition. He looked almost sleepily at the piece before looking back at Thoughtless. "What will this do to him...?"

Thoughtless grinned. (Well let's just say...) It lowered its head, its eyes gaining that bright brown glow. (..I no longer have a use for him...)

sss

Rudy let out a scream as he was tossed again into the floor. He spluttered as dust got into his mouth. He pushed himself up, trying to wipe it from his mouth. He didn't have much time to do this before he turned his head just in time to see Jacko rushing at him, claws spread out. With another blow, another scream, Rudy was sent flying across the room.

He laid on the ground, whimpering in pain. Blood splattered all over the ground. Fake blood; all of this was a simulation, he knew. But it felt so real. His real body was wracked in horrific pain. The sight of his blood, even if this was a simulation, was too horrible to imagine. He still felt weak, still wracked in pain, unable to move without a shockwave of pain moving through his body.

Jacko wasn't done with him yet. The zoner came at him yet again. His hand gripped around his throat and lifted him up. Rudy struggled to get himself free, but it was useless. He could feel the zoner's hand tighten around his neck, making it impossible for him to breathe. Jacko then threw him into the ground and brought his claws across his back. Rudy's eyes bulged and his scream echoed through the dome.

"Did you have enough, Rudy Tabootie?"

Rudy looked over at Biclops, who was staring down at the scene in amusement. It was clear that Biclops was enjoying this bout of what he saw as 'revenge'. Biclops hardly spoke the whole time, but Rudy could have sworn that he heard the giant laughing a few times. Hearing this from the one who had been his friend left him with a nauseating feeling inside.

He couldn't even think to answer. What could he say to the giant? What would he even want to say? He wished he could try to get the giant to see what he was doing. He wished he could get him to realize that this was wrong. Why couldn't Biclops understand that this isn't how things should be resolved? How could he just stand there and laugh at someone's pain? Especially when he knew what it felt like getting hurt... This isn't how he would have thought Biclops would ever act. This was how a villain like Skrawl would act. But Biclops...

Rudy clenched his teeth tightly as he felt Jacko press his claws into his back again, his other hand holdin down his neck. Rudy could do nothing to get away, so he just waited for the blow. Jacko began to rip up his flesh. Digital flesh, fake blood, but it still hurt all the same. He could feel the warm, simulated blood move down his body as Jacko ripped out his back. Rudy coudn't stifle the scream.

"Not so much fun when you're on the receiving end, isn't it?" Biclops's cold voice came. "This is what you get for all that you've done."

Rudy stared at the giant with his one good eye, which reflexed in all the pain that he was feeling, his teeth bared tightly, seething rapidly. Despite the fact that he knew it was useless, he said, "W-Why can't you...understand..? I-I didn't do...any of that..." His voice was strained and pained. "I didn't b-betray you... I-I didn't at-attack ChalkZone... You've got to believe m-me... Search your mind for..."

"I already have, creator!" Biclops spat. "I remember how you took out my eye!"

"Y-You started with o-o-one...and I-I-I drew one..f-f-for you..." Rudy choked out, his face stained with tears from the pain. He cracked a small smile. "R-Remember...? D-Do you remember...?"

But of course, the giant didn't remember. Rudy was not at all surprised by this. His smile faded as he shut his good eye and cried softly. The pain from all the attacks was mounting up quickly. He wasn't sure how much longer he could handle this. How long was Biclops going to make him endure this? Judging from his facial expression, it seemed like a long time.

At least Biclops didn't order another slam from Jacko. That had been his punishment before whenever he tried to convince the giant of what happened. Biclops would get furious any time he tried to tell him to remember what had taken place. He was convinced that he was just trying to trick him and was preparing something horrible for him. If only he could see that this wasn't the case.. If he could just give him a chance.. Then maybe...

Another scream ripped out of his throat when Jacko stuck his claws into his stomach. Despite them not being real and the attack fake, Rudy still felt like someone had stuck four large knives into his stomach. And when Jacko turnerd them around... Oh gawd, the pain... His stomach was on fire... He could feel the claws tearing him up inside. He could feel the digital blood coming out of his mouth. Trembling in agony, he fell forward on the ground.

"I am willing to stop if you admit what you did." Biclops said softly, his voice surprisingly calm with what was happening. "Confession is an important first step. I wouldn't be hurting you so much if you didn't keep lying to me. Tell me the truth, Rudy Tabootie. You were going around tormenting zoners, and I was your first victim."

Rudy opened his mouth to speak, but the giant cut him off.

"And don't try to fucking lie to me again!" The large zoner's voice boome, vibrating through the ground. "I'm not stupid! I remember all of this clearly! Tell me the truth now, Rudy! Tell me!"

Rudy wanted to protest like before. He wanted to remain defiant and tell this giant that he was wrong, that he had been brainwashed by Thoughtless. That's what he kept on doing during his unwanted stay here. He wanted to convince Biclops that he was the one being played for a sap. He wanted to keep struggling, to keep standing firm no matter what happened to him. After all, isn't that what he was supposed to do, as ChalkZone's protector? Stand strong no matter the opposition?

But now his resolve was starting to quiver and shake. The pain he was forced to constantly endure was only getting stronger and more pronounced. It was seeping into his mind and clouding it. He could no longer work up the courage to keep fighting back. Even though he would feel shame after this, he could feel himself start to give in. He closed his eyes softly and he lowered his head.

Biclops took this as a sign of submission. "So...you aren't going to fight back this time?" Rudy didn't answer. Biclops gave a bitter smile. "Well then..does this mean that you finally decided to admit the truth...?"

Rudy was going to feel sick if he confessed to something he didn't do, but at the moment, his mind and body was so desperate to get away from the pain that he just didn't care. Without saying a word, he simply nodded his head.

"Ah there you see? Isn't it so much better when you admit the truth?" Biclops said with a sneer on his face. "That wasn't so bad. I bet you must feel better, having that weight lifted from you."

Rudy couldn't think of a response.

"I imagine that it does. After all, having such a deep, terrible lie can make things feel so much heavier and thicker than they should be. You must have been suffering quite the strong guilty feelings racing through you. I bet that burned, didn't it? I bet it made you feel sick in side, disgusted with what you have done."

A part of Rudy screamed at him to keep resisting. Screamed at him and telling him that this isn't right, that he shouldn't give into this. He knew that he was admitting to a lie. He knew what really happened and all he was doing right now was saying that Biclops was right, despite knowing for a fact that Biclops was brainwashed. He couldn't agree to this, could he? What could he hope to accomplish by pretending that he had been lying?

But...what if he was wrong? He thought back to Penny. She thought that he was changed by Thoughtless. He had been insulted and resisted...but what if she was right? What if he was the monster? What if Thoughtless had been controlling him this entire time, using him as a toy? If that is the case, then shouldn't he make up for it by confessing his sins and accepting punishment? That was the least he could do, right? He would want to make up for what he did wrong, and if he really had done all those awful things, if Thoughtless had really been using him... Then this was the one chance that he had to make things right.

The small boy nodded his head slowly, his mind slowly giving into the idea, for certain, that he really was the bad guy. "I-I'm sorry..."

"What did you say?" Biclops asked in a firm, stern voice.

"I said I'm...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did..." Rudy didn't dare look at the giant in the eyes as he said this. Tears of guilt began to intermix with the other tears, staining his cheeks. "I don't know why I... I... I'm sorry..."

Biclops stared at him blankly for a few moments, and then he smiled. "Yes, that's what I like to hear, Rudy Tabootie. A confession."

Rudy didn't bother trying to say anything. He couldn't bring himself to. Why should he? He had been a terrible person, right? He didn't deserve kindness. He deserved nothing but punishment. He waited there for Biclops to resume the illusionary Jacko's attack on him. When it didn't come, he forced himself to lift up his head and stare at Biclops in confusion.

"I think you had enough punishment for now. Since you confessed the truth, I see no reason to further torment you...for now." Biclops raised his hands up to the panel. "Why don't you take a rest now?" With that, Biclops pressed a few buttons a couple of times.

Almost instantly, the illusion all around Rudy vanished completely. Jacko's body disintegrated into particles that floated up and dissipated into the air. The landscape and the other zombie-like zoners also disappeared, leaving behind nothing but an empty space.

This didn't last too long. With another few presses, the dome whirred to life once more, creating yet another illusion. This time, it wasn't something that promised nothing but pain. Instead it was a bedroom of sort. No doors leading out or any closet. But he could feel a nice soft carpet on the ground and there was a comfortable-looking bed nearby. It was practically calling out his name. Rudy said not a word as he walked over to the bed and he collapsed into it.

Biclops smirked at this. "You will need rest for later. I will leave and decide the proper punishment for you. I'm sure that you will be pleased with what I come up with."

Rudy looked up at the giant as he said this. He couldn't help but shiver a little, wondering what the giant will come up with. For what he's done... He could only just begin to imagine the pain he would be forced to go through. But at least it was all for justice, right? If he really had done something wrong, then he needed to face the consequences.

"For now, why don't you sleep?" Biclops enticed. With another press of a button, the light dimmed around, making the bedroom look like it was in a Night Zone. "There, isn't that better?" The giant asked with a small smile. Rudy nodded his head slowly. "Good. We wouldn't want you be too tired for your punishment, right?" The giant chuckled as he turned and began to walk away. "Goodnight, Rudy Tabootie." With that, Rudy was now alone.

Rudy simply laid there for several moments, his mind going over what had happened. He replayed it over and over in his mind, trying to come with grips with what had just taken place. Did he really just do this? Did he just confess to a crime that he was so certain he did not commit? Did he really fall into this trap and claim, though indirectly, that he really had caused all those problems?

He felt sick to his stomach at this realization. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have allowed himself to fall into this? He should have been stronger. He should have resisted. He should have continued trying to make Biclops realize his mistake. Perhaps if he had held out longer, he could have made Biclops see reason and...

No, he wouldn't have been able to do that. Biclops would never believe him. And frankly, he wasn't sure if he believed himself anymore. Perhaps he really did do all those things. He was starting to accept the idea before, but now it was really starting to finally click. Could he really have been...?

Unable to take the weight bearing down on him, Rudy allowed the tears to flow from his eyes. He ignored the pain this caused him in his damaged right eye; he just allowed the tears to keep dripping down, staining his cheeks and the pillow that he rested his head against. Oh gawd... he couldn't have... But what if he did...? What other atrocities had he performed? How many zoners had he harmed? Had he killed any zoners? How many had he tortured? That was all a possibility, and each thought wrenched his gut tighter and tighter.

Those poor zoners... What... what had he done...? He thought he was helping them, but he really had been... Penny had been right to tie him up. If she hadn't, he might have hurt Snap and be forced not to remember. Maybe that's why Snap really turned against him. Perhaps he really had abused him.

Rudy pulled the blanket over him, encasing himself in its warmth. He shifted himself so that he was on his back. He looked above him, staring at the fake ceiling painted over him. He took in a deep breath and he sighed. The weight of guilt that crashed all around him had torn through his mind and body and had previously left him feeling shaky. But now he felt so numb and cold. He turned himself onto his side, allowing the thoughts to swim over his aching skull.

So...this is what karma felt like.

sss

Dr. Von Doktor hardly heard the door open behind him, but he already knew who it was. He raised his hand up and he waved it, motioning her to come closer. "Set it right beside me."

The woman obeyed immediately. She walked up towards him slowly, the tray of food held in her hands. She gently laid it on the table in front of the man, her body's shadow casted on him for only a brief moment, and then she pulled back. She seemed to notice the look on his face and she said, "Is there something troubling you, sir?"

Dr. Von Doktor remained silent for a few moments. His mind swam with thoughts. He hadn't really expected to speak to his personal assistant on this. He had preferred dealing with it himself. But perhaps, now was a good time to get a second opinion. Ms. Charlotte might be able to think of something, right? She was an intelligent woman.

He looked over at her. She was of medium height. Not the tallest woman he met, but not the shortest, either. She wore a pale yellow outfit, button-up with large buttons and with matching blonde hair that splayed out at the sides, covering her shoulders. Her slightly angular face and slightly puffy cheeks seemed like a contradition, but somehow, on her, they worked. Her icy blue-gray eyes stared right at him, filled with curiosity and concern for him.

"Oh...it'z zat man zat waz in here before." Dr. Von Doktor admitted.

"You mean Mr. Tabootie?" Ms. Charlotte asked. The old man nodded his head. "Why are you upset about him?"

"It took me a long time to rebuild my reputation. I don't want to have anyzing happen zat coud ruin it." Dr. Von Doktor explained.

Ms. Charlotte tilted her head. "I don't get it."

"I know. You weren't present during the meeting. But.. Mz. Charlotte..." The scientist raised his hand up in gesture. "Zee way he spoke to me...zee wordz he chose...the look he gave me... I know for a fact zat zis man zinks zat I did somezing to his zon. Zat Rudy Tabootie fellow. I told you about him before, right?" At the woman's nod, he continued, "Well sure I dizliked him but I never would have..." He sighed, resting his elbow against his desk and rubbing his temples. "I'm not sure what to do."

"Well you did offer help, right?" Asked Ms. Charlotte. Dr. Von Doktor looked up at her expectantly. "Maybe if you find Rudy and Penny and save them from whatever happened, perhaps Mr. Tabootie would no longer be suspicious of you?"

Dr. Von Doktor considered this for a few moments. "Perhapz.." He gritted his teeth and looked away. "I'm ztill not entirely sure. He might zink that it waz all zome kind of trick."

"Does it really matter?" Ms. Charlotte questioned. "What's the worse that could happen if some crazed dad blamed you for his child's torment?"

Dr. Von Doktor glared at her harshly. He couldn't believe that she would ask such a thing. She should know the answer to that. She should understand just how serious this really was. But instead she was acting like a...like an idiot. He hissed through his clenched teeth and said, "Do you really have to azk zat...?"

Upon realizing her mistake, Ms. Charlotte took a small step back and bowed her head. "I'm sorry, sir."

Dr. Von Doktor groaned softly. What exactly could he do? He didn't want that man to ruin his reputation again. He didn't want word of this spreading and having news reporters coming in and trying to pry information from him. He didn't want to have rumors of him spreading about. He knew he had to do something to stop the rumors before they began. And as he sat there, thinking, an idea came to his head.

"Mz. Charlotte?" He asked as he turned to his personal assistant. "Go zrough zee phone book and find a number for me, won't you? There iz a phone call I would like to plaze."

Ms. Charlotte nodded her head. "Number for whom?"

Dr. Von Doktor stared at her with the most stern and serious look he could muster. "Her name iz Terry Bouffant."


	22. Interruptions

Biclops watched from a distance as Rudy laid down and appeared to be going to sleep. The smile never left the giant's face as he saw this show of submission. He tried his best not to smile too much. There was still more work to be done. He was glad that things were going well so far, though.

He had been worried that Rudy would have resisted a little too much. He didn't want to hurt him too badly right away. He wanted to prolong this. He didn't feel that Rudy deserved a quick punishment and be let off just like that. He wanted to make this process slow, to give the boy more time to fully comprehend his situation and realize just how much he has fallen. He wasn't going to have the magic chalk to help him out this time.

He already had an idea of what he was going to do to the kid after he was finished with him and got bored. The visual replicator thing that Snap built for him, with Skrawl's help of course, was only going to be good for so long. Eventually he will tire of it and want to do something to get rid of Rudy once and for all. He was going to make sure that his demise was going to be as painful as possible. The other one, Penny, won't get off so easily either. But Rudy, he wanted to pay special attention to that little brat.

But for now, it was time for a break. He found that he was getting a little too worked up, and he needed to relax. Otherwise, he might end up killing Rudy too early. He needed to keep himself calm so he could get as much enjoyment out of this as possible.

He decided the best thing to do was to go for a short walk around the outside of the mine. He had no one to guard Rudy, but what was the point? The glass was strong and even dug into the ground, leaving the boy no escape. He had also broken into his spirit. He doubted that Rudy would have the courage to try to escape even if he had the means to. Yeah, it was going to be all right.

Once he was outside of the Chalk Mine, he began to pace around. He stretched out his legs, which felt quite good, and looked up at the never-moving Day Zone sun, which shined brightly down upon him. He couldn't help but smile. With Rudy's capture, it felt as though the day had gotten brighter, much cheerier than before. He couldn't begin to imagine what it was going to feel like once he got rid of him and Penny. That was just...inconceivable... Which made it all the more exciting for the giant.

Then he froze. A realization dawned on his mind. This day, how bright the sun was, it was starting to remind him of something. The day that he had tried to push out of his mind, but sometimes the horrible memories still reigned over his brain.

The day Rudy took out his third eye.

The giant shuddered at this. He placed his hand where he knew the eye had been, rubbing it back and forth. He still had phantom aches and pains from that day. He could still feel his eye that was once there moving around, struggling to see. He still had flashes in his mind of Rudy gouging it out, tearing it from his body completely.

He gritted his teeth at the horrible memory. He could feel the tears froming in his eyes, beginning to move down his cheeks. Oh gawd the pain... He would never forget it. He'd also never forget the look in Rudy's eyes when he had done the deed. He had looked so...so proud of himself, as if it was some kind of huge accomplishment. That sick, twisted smile, that glint in his eyes... Oh if only he hadn't been so wracked in pain, he would have taken care of the brat then.

But at least something was being done about him now. He was amused by how helpless Rudy had acted. He didn't see an ounce of that evil child he did in the past. He was a great actor, and he was looking for sympathy from someone he knew wouldn't give him any. It was quite pitiful. A part of him wondered if he should have shown some pity just because of how pathetic he was. No, he deserved this.

It did seem pretty strange that Rudy would even dare seek his pity in the first place. He was begging and pleading with him and the look in his eyes was way too genuine. Rudy knew he had already broken his trust with him, so why was he trying to fake it now? What would be the point? Did Rudy suffer amnesia or something?

ooo Or was it me who has the amnesia? ooo

Biclops nearly jolted at that thought. He didn't know where it came from. It was just so...sudden. He looked left and right, wondering if someone had spoken it to him. No, there was no one here. It really had been himself.

Although unnerved, he tried to push it away so he could focus on those previous thoughts. He started to think of the punishment was going to be for Rudy. He smiled at the very idea of it. It was the same punishment he was going to do when he first met Rudy at age eight, that age when his eye had been taken away from him. He wondered how much Rudy would be able to defend himself if he had that other eye taken out.

ooo Do two wrongs really make a right? ooo

Biclops gritted his teeth. He wasn't sure why he was having doubts about that. Rudy was the one who took out his eye, so why shouldn't he do the same to him? Eye for an eye right?

ooo And that will leave the whole world blind. ooo

The giant gripped his head, trying to shake that voice out of his mind. He wasn't sure why he was being assaulted by it now. Everything had been just fine. He didn't feel this voice so much when he was playing with Rudy earlier. Why was it pestering him now? He shook his head from one side to the other, and eventually, he was certain he could hear the buzzing voice stop completely. Now he could focus on what he was thinking about before.

Yes, the thought of ripping out that boy's left eye seemed like perfect karma. Blinding him completely. He would be helpless then. He couldn't use the magic chalk if he couldn't see what he was doing. Then it didn't matter where he left him, even out in the open. He could try to draw, but any attempts would be in vain.

Once again, he found himself feeling confused by something. He still didn't get why Rudy would try to seek pity from him. That...just didn't seem very likely. He knew that he had taken out his eye. Why would he be stupid enough to think that he would trust him enough to let him go?

Then another thought came to his mind. He recalled Rudy had done this at age eight, but Rudy was clearly ten now. It wasn't something that came to his mind much. He had been so angry about what he did that he didn't stop to think about some of these details all that much. Before, the fact that Rudy was eight didn't seem too significant. But now as more thoughts entered his mind, he couldn't help but start questioning himself. A single question most prominently encircled his mind.

If Rudy had hurt him at age eight, then why did he let him roam around ChalkZone for about two years before doing anything?

It just didn't make any sense. He had made himself a promise, to keep out any new creator that dares try to get him. And yet for some reason, he had let Rudy roam around for a couple of years. Why would he do that if he knew that he was dangerous? What would possess him to trust him with the chalk? No, he didn't trust him with the chalk, but then... what else did it look like?

Or...maybe the event took place at a later date? Maybe the betrayal was recent and it only felt so long ago? No, that was impossible. He felt around his head to make double sure. There would have been stitches. An injury like that wouldn't have healed itself that quickly.

So then...what was going on? What had actually happened, and when? Why weren't his memories making any sense anymore? What was the truth? These questions and more clouded his mind, giving him a pounding headache. He rubbed his hands over his head, massaging it, trying to chase away at least some of the pain. The effort worked a little bit, but he could still feel the pounding headache spread through his skull.

ooo Perhaps..it didn't happen like that. ooo

He gritted his teeth at the thought. Well if it didn't happen like that, then what did? How did the memory actually go?

ooo Maybe Rudy was..is actually a nice kid, and I let him have the chalk because he had proven himself? ooo

The thought made the giant growl in almost bitter amusement. Him? Willingly give a fucking creator magic chalk? Deliberately letting one roam around ChalkZone for their own amusement? Yeah, right.

But then...it would actually explain why Rudy stuck around for so long, and why he hadn't taken action until now. It would fill in that loophole in his memory, if Rudy had actually been nice and helpful enough that he'd trust him with the chalk. It was the only thing he could think of that would make any kind of sense.

But why would Rudy take out an eye? Why would he suddenly turn against his old ways to hurt him? That didn't make much sense. It would seem...out of his character. He clearly remembered that he was eight when he did it, but... No, he had to have done something to earn that trust. There just.. There had to be an explanation for this. Why would Rudy briefly turn aggressive and yet he himself still allowed him to roam around in ChalkZone?

ooo That's because he never did anything harmful to me. ooo

The thought made him freeze. He tried to shake it off, but it kept circling around his head, wrapping him up tightly around the skull like a headband. He felt the words repeating themselves over and over inside his head.

Rudy...didn't do anything.

The thought seemed so foreign and so strange. A part of him had a hard time believing it. His more emotional half continued to want to think that Rudy was responsible. He had taken out his eye for crying out loud. He could never forget that. The memory of it, the memory of the pain, it was way too vivid for him to just have made it up. He'd never make up a memory so twisted and disturbing.

But with that previous thought came a realization. That perhaps he had been remembering wrong this whole time. That maybe Rudy had never took out an eye... Maybe he never had a third eye at all. Maybe Rudy did give him an eye. Yes...he remembered having vision problems then... No depth perception.

"Gah!"

Biclops gripped his head even tighter, applying pressure. He gritted his teeth tightly, gnashing them together. The thoughts in his head swam rapidly. He could feel his mind going to war on itself. One side believing Rudy was the culprit, and the other believing that he had been mistaken. He struggled to deal with the pain, even as it ripped through his head and threatened to split it wide open. He clenched his teeth tighter, nearly popping them out of his jaws. Unable to take it, he pulled his head back and he let out a scream.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!"

As the scream dissipated, he dropped down onto his knees. He held himself up with one hand, the other rubbing his forehead. He took in a few heavy breaths, in and out slowly. His eyes remained shut for a few moments, but then soon, they opened, locked on the ground, on nothing in particular. Even as he tried to relax, his mind continued to have rapid moving thoughts invading his skull, and he could feel his body shivering.

Rudy Tabootie... Had he been wrong about him? These memories no longer added up as much as they did before. He wasn't even sure what caused it. But something...his intuition maybe, was telling him that something was wrong. Something about the memories felt off.

He didn't have much time to think about this when he noticed something coming towards him. He lifted up his head and squinted his eyes, trying to make out the shape. Something was moving in the sky and it was coming in his direction. As he watched, the shape began to become more and more recognizable. And soon he realized who it was.

Skrawl and his Beanie Boys.

Briefly, the back of his mind set off an alarm, red flags. It told him that the sight of Skrawl was bad news and he should get away.

And yet he remained put. A part of him couldn't help but feel some relaxation at Skrawl's presence. A part of him wanted to keep believing that Skrawl was, although grumpy, a good guy. He had been trying to stop Rudy and Penny. That made him an ally...right?

Biclops watched in silence as Skrawl, who was being carried by his Beanie Boys, came over towards him. It took only a few moments for the jellybean to reach him. The Beanie Boys lowered him down to the ground, where it gently made touch down. The jellybean jumped out of the chair he was in, and he began to make his way over towards him.

He often forgot how large Skrawl was. Not his size of course, but he was still larger than many other zoners he tended to see. The zoner was tall enough to reach around his chest. Yet the way the zoner carried himself as he came over, and the way he looked at him, it was as if Skrawl felt he was so much larger. Not that this worried Biclops too much. He could easily seize the jellybean in his hand if he decided to get out of line too much.

"Greetings, Biclops." Skrawl was quick to begin talking. "How are you on this fine day?"

Biclops cocked an eyebrow. "I'm fine. I'm not sure why you came all the way here to ask me that."

"That's because I didn't. I just didn't want to be rude, you know?" Skrawl said as he spread out his hands. "After all, you are the guardian of the Chalk Mine."

This felt strange. There was something about his words that felt off. But he couldn't pinpoint exactly why that is. "Why have you come here? And don't tell me it was just to wish me a good day. You never usually come here. You have a reason." Biclops folded his arms, giving the jellybean a frown. "So spill it. What do you want?"

"I'll go right into it." Skrawl motioned his claws inward towards himself. "I came here for Master Tabootie."

"Rudy Tabootie?" Biclops narrowed his eyes in confusion, turning his head to one side. "Why do you want him? I already have him in custody."

"Thoughtless wants to see him for some reason. I don't know exactly why." Slight hesitation. The jellybean might be lying about that. Biclops said nothing and let the jellybean continue. "I've come to take him off your hands for you. I'm sure you did a great job with punishing him. Let Thoughtless handle things from here."

But still Biclops didn't step aside. He could see how much this was irritating Skrawl. Even if he didn't say anything, the expression alone spoke enough. It made Biclops almost want to move. And yet he was compelled to keep himself in front. He wasn't even sure why. Maybe he had an attachment to Rudy that he never realized before? Was that their true relationship?

"I'm sorry, but I already have plans for the boy. I'm not about to deviate from them now." Biclops's voice was soft and tinged with the best regret that he could manage. "But if it would like, I could get Penny and bring her to it. I don't care how it punishes her. But Rudy Tabootie is mine." He placed a hand against his chest. "I'm not giving him up."

Skrawl lowered his head slightly, growling softly. "I would reconsider if I were you, Biclops." The Beanie Boys around him gave a confirmative nod. "I don't want to do anything, but Thoughtless, it's...really convincing. And it will not take no for an answer. It wants Rudy, and it wants him now."

Biclops knew he was taking a risk by still resisting. He knew that he was better off handing the boy over than risk whatever Thoughtless or Skrawl might do. Despite knowing that they were allies, and they had been trying to keep ChalkZone safe, he still couldn't help but feel uneasy around them. There was something about them that just...didn't mix in very well in his mind.

And then there were those other thoughts, the ones that were telling him that they weren't to be trusted, that Rudy was not the monster he thought he was. These thoughts intermingled together, giving him a headache. He gritted his teeth and tried to ride this out. It took a few moments before the thoughts would subside, and he could feel himself returning to normal. Or rather, a sense of normal; there was still that buzzing in the back of his head, telling him that something was wrong.

A part of him wasn't sure why he was even resisting. What did it matter what Skrawl did to Rudy? Why should he even care? Rudy was the enemy, right? Whatever Skrawl and Thoughtless were going to do, he deserved it, right? Why was he hesitating about this? Why not just hand the little brat over?

ooo Because he is innocent and I know that for a fact. ooo

No, he wasn't innocent..was he? Those thoughts from before, the ones filled with doubt, came rushing back to him. He found his hand shooting for his face, rubbing it back and forth, his teeth clenched tightly once more.

The other part of him didn't want to do this. There was some small part of him that was clawing its way up, telling him that this was a very bad idea. This part couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Rudy. It felt...strangely compelled to protect him. He froze at this thought. Him, protect Rudy? That was absurd...and yet somehow the feeling felt...right.

Without fully realizing it was happening, Biclops narrowed his eyes and he took a step forward. The Beanie Boys looked unnerved and they immediately draw back. Skrawl, however, remained perfectly still, his hands pressed against his hips as he seemed to be waiting expectantly for him to do what he wanted. Biclops raised a hand and pointed a large finger in the opposite direction they had come. "Why don't you just turn around and leave? I'm not in the mood for you."

Skrawl cocked an eyebrow. "So...you're saying no? To Thoughtless? To me?"

Biclops remained silent for a few moments. Then he nodded his head. "Yes." A single word. Simple, yet firm and strong.

Skrawl stared at him for a few moments. His expression never changed, a look of mild surprise. Then they slowly narrowed, and he shook his head from side to side, shutting his eyes softly. "That is...too bad. I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to this. But..." He reopened his eyes and glared at Biclops's own. "..you left me with no choice."

Before Biclops could react, there was a sudden shockwave of pain coming from his leg. He looked down and he could see something red stuck in his leg. He stared at it for a few moments, watching as it sparkled. He threw his head back and let out a scream and he dropped down onto his knee. He quivered as he felt the pain spreading through his body rapidly, feeling as though it was tearing him apart on the inside.

Looking over at Skrawl, he could see that the jellybean's hand was pulled back and his body was in a posture that revealed what happened. Skrawl was the one who threw the piece, using amazing speed that he didn't even know the jellybean had. As the pain overwhelmed him, the pale yellow giant found himself falling onto his side, gripping his leg tightly.

"Come on, Beanie Boys." Skrawl said, snapping his claws together. "We have a little gift to bring to our...benefactor."

Biclops watched, his vision blurring due to the pain, as Skrawl and the Beanie Boys began to go inside. Though he could not fully explain where it came from, a strong feeling of dread and horror washed through him. For some reason, he just...couldn't allow them to get to Rudy. Something inside of him was compelling him to go and stop them.

But the pain...it wouldn't let him go anywhere. It got progressively worse, his whole body shaking violently. He could see blood beginning to ooze rapidly from where it was stuck to him. He stared at the leg in horror and then he looked back to the cave. He took in a few shaky breaths, and then he let out a terror-tinged scream that surprised even himself.

"Rudy Tabootie!"

Before the giant could process the confusing thoughts in his head and why he had screamed Rudy's name like that, the agony had finally taken its toll on his mind. He collapsed in a heap on the ground, his world entering darkness and silence.

sss

"Rudy Tabootie!"

Rudy nearly fell out of the simulated bed. He instantly rose up, looking left and right frantically for any sign of that giant. He took in several quick breaths, struggling to slow down his breathing and calm down. He looked in the direction he heard the scream in, questions rushing through his skull.

What was going on? Why did Biclops scream like that? Why did he sound almost...worried? That didn't make any sense. Why would Biclops care about what happened to him? Wasn't he a monster? Wasn't he some disgusting piece of filth that deserved to get punished? His mind was altered and he had lived thinking that he was some sort of hero, but now he knows that's complete garbage. And Biclops knew this.

So why did he scream like that? The way it sounded...it was so urgent. It was as if Biclops was trying to...warn him of something. The thought made Rudy scoff and he blew a stray hair strand away. Warn him...what a joke. Biclops wouldn't care what happened to him. And frankly, a part of himself didn't either. This was karma after all. Why shouldn't he just face it? He deserved it.

It didn't take him too long to realize who was coming. He could see the shadow moving along the wall. Tall and round, but he knew it wasn't Biclops. The footsteps weren't nearly heavy enough. And this shadow was followed by four other ones. He could hear a low buzzing sound that was steadily getting louder. It sounded almost like a propeller. A few small propellers working together to make a larger sound. His left eye instantly widened. He knew of only one type of zoner that made that sort of sound.

"Ah Rudy Tabootie..." An all too familiar voice chortled, rippling through the air. "How nice to...see you again..."

Rudy could feel his blood chilling at that voice. He looked around frantically as he tried to see the source of that voice. It took a while, but he eventually could see the familiar shape of the jellybean zoner emerging, and floating behind him, those large, overweight zoners that could somehow fly.

Rudy immediately jumped to his feet and he took a few steps back. He adopted a defensive posture and gritted his teeth. "What do you want, Skrawl?" He demanded. He paused for a moment. He turned his body to the side as he tried to look behind Skrawl. "And where is Biclops."

"He is...busy at the moment." Skrawl tapped his claws together. "That leaves us to spend some quality time together."

Rudy narrowed his eyes. "What do you plan on doing with me?"

Skrawl smiled at him. An eerie, disturbing smile filled with promises. It was never a good sign when Skrawl smiled like this. Rudy prepared himself for anything. He looked up cautiously at the Beanie Boys. They didn't seem interested in moving any time soon. He looked back at Skrawl, who was just standing there, smiling, his hands behind his back. He was planning something, he could tell. But exactly what, it was difficult to say.

After what felt like too long of silence, Skrawl finally spoke again. "Biclops has relinquished you to our custody." Skrawl motioned to himself. "You see, Thoughtless wants you."

Rudy scrunched up his nose. "It what? Why?" He bared his teeth defensively, a way of showing Skrawl that he wasn't backing down without a fight.

"I'm not sure why it wants you so much." An obvious lie. Skrawl was hiding something, trying to make this sound not as bad as it really was. Rudy narrowed his eyes at the jellybean, who didn't seem fazed. "But I'm not about to deny it. Thoughtless had done so much for me and my Beanie Boys. I do think I deserve to give him some payback, right?" He rubbed his hands together. "I do look forward to what he does to you, chalk boy."

Rudy grimaced at this. A part of him knew that something was off about this. Skrawl wasn't the type to willingly payback someone else like this. The Skrawl he knew wouldn't be this grateful. He would still be selfish, caring only about his own goals.

But regardless of this out of character moment, what alarmed him most was what Skrawl planned to do. Bring him to Thoughtless? What was Thoughtless going to do to him? What did that thing have planned for him? Rudy had some ideas, and they kept racing through his head, each one worse than the next. He gritted his teeth as he tried to keep the thoughts from overtaking his mind too much. He tried his best to look brave.

But it was clear that some fear was showing on his face. Skrawl's broadened smirk revealed this. Rudy couldn't stop his heart from pounding in his chest. He couldn't stop the feelings of fear from washing over him. He was chalkless against Skrawl. Defenseless. He could try to defend himself, but there was little he could do agains the large jellybean zoner. And as Skrawl took a few steps towards him, Rudy couldn't help but take a few steps back, despite his bravado he tried to display.

"You are coming with us, Master Tabootie." Skrawl sneered at him. "And don't even try to say 'no'. Thoughtless doesn't take 'no' for an answer, and neither do I." He pressed his claw against his dome. "Even think of doing that, and I will let my Beanie Boys 'play' with you for a while. And trust me, you don't want to know how they play."

Rudy felt a cold shiver rush through his body as he saw the Beanie Boys take on malicious expressions he had never seen on them before. He stared at them for a few moments and then he looked at Skrawl. The jellybean had started to cut a hole into his dome, the loud scrape filling the air. The boy took in several quick breaths, his eye darting left and right, and then back at Skrawl.

What was he going to do now?

sss

Snap leaned back in his chair, looking up and chuckling at the sight of Delta. A part of him was glad that Delta went behind Skrawl's back. This provided for him a source of entertainment. Skrawl had allowed him to do anything he wanted to Delta as punishment, and that's exactly what he was doing.

Of course, he didn't really hurt Delta. No, that would have been too easy. It might have gotten old too quickly, and besides, Delta would have been expecting that. He wanted to take the Beanie Boy by surprise. He was his rival after all. Why not have a little fun with him? Play with him for a while? Yes, that would be grand. It didn't take him too long to decide what he wanted to do with him either.

Delta hung overhead, a thick rope binding his arms and forcing him to hang in the middle of the room like some kind of ornament. Snap couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the Beanie Boy struggle to get free, only to cause himself to swing around a little. It was quite a comical sight. One that only he would get to see; he had ordered the other Beanie Boys to leave so he could spend some time with Delta.

His rival was screaming at him to let him go. He didn't quite give up yet. His voice sounded scratchy and Snap knew it was only a matter of time before he would give in, if only because his throat couldn't handle it anymore. A part of Snap hoped it didn't come to that. He would miss hearing the sound of his rival's accursed voice.

He looked at the long pole that he had been given. He stared at it, a smile spreading across his face. Another part of Delta's punishment. He had thought of the idea after he told the others to hang Delta. It completed the image quite well, and it provided him with some more fun than just watching him swing helplessly in the air. Not that that wasn't fun, but seeing him swing around more when he struck him with the pole, like he was some kind of pinata, that was even more fun. Especially considering that he was upside down.

"Ow!" Delta cried out when Snap hit him in the face. "Will you quit that?!"

Snap chortled at this. "And why should I? It's fun!" He raised the stick and hit Delta again, causing him to swing away wildly, back and forth. "See? Isn't this fun?"

"No! You little runt! You better let me go!" Delta struggled to free one of his arms.

"Uh uh uh..." Snap waved his hand from side to side, his tone like that of a mother speaking to a child. "You should cool your temper. Skrawl allowed me to do this, and until he says to stop..." He narrowed his eyes, a malicious glint in them. "You're mine..."

"That's not fair!" Delta screeched, strugging wildly. "I didn't do anything wrong! I swear, he really did give those orders and..." Snap struck him again, this time in the face. Delta shuddered from the pain and he fell silent.

Snap shook his head from side to side. "Tsk tsk tsk... Still making up stories, I see. That is a shame. I would have thought you'd be smarter than that." Snap looked at the pole, a fake look of disappointment on his face. "You can't just admit that you made a mistake. I'm sure Skrawl would understand that more than you lying to get out of trouble." He continued to examine the pole before giving Delta a sidewas glance, a single eye staring out at him. "But...if you'd like to keep lying, go right ahead." He grinned. "I haven't had this much fun in a long time..."

Delta growled at this. "You stupid little...!" He was struck in his side. He let out a yelp, turning his head to one side. Then he focused back on Snap. "I will get you for this! Someday! I will!"

Snap laughed at this. "Yeah sure! Like that will ever happen!" He waved his hand dismissively.

"You will see! Someday Skrawl will find out that he made a mistake in you! And I will be on your sorry tail!" Delta's voice was slightly higher pitched than normal, adrenaline pumping through his body. This adrenaline wasn't enough to free him of the ropes, but it was enough that Snap could see his body shaking. "I will shred you!"

Snap leaned back in his chair. He crossed one leg over the other. He let go of the pole, allowing it to lean towards him. A smirk spread across his face. "Yeah, sure... If you say so." He folded his arms behind his head. "If that ever happens, then by all means, tear off one of my arms or something."

"Be careful what you wish for, punk!" Delta jerked himself from side to side. "I will make it come true!"

Snap chortled at this, but said nothing. He leaned back in his chair and watched as Delta continued to struggle. It was really quite fascinating just how much spunk was in this one zoner. He could hardly believe just how much he could keep this up and how long he was willing to struggle. It was as though Delta were not fully aware of the situation; he just kept struggling as if that would somehow get him free. Not a chance. If anything, all he was doing was tightening the ropes.

But regardless, it was still quite fun to watch. Even though he didn't hurt the zoner too much other than with some whacks, watching him struggle like this was more fun. Seeing him stripped of his power, even if it was just temporary, and seeing him tied up and helpless, it was so enjoyable. This zoner was his rival and he knew that Delta wanted to usurp him and reclaim the title of second in command. Perhaps this will encourage him to abandon that silly goal. Snap would remain Skrawl's second in command. Nothing would change that.

Speaking of Skrawl, he wondered where he had gone. He hadn't seen him since he went to speak to Thoughtless. Where could he have gone after that? Or was he still with Thoughtless? He hadn't known meetings between those two to be this long but...it was still a possibility. Or perhaps Thoughtless had sent him out on a mission. Maybe to find those swords that were mentioned earlier. He recalled how much Skrawl and Thoughtless wanted those items. Perhaps Thoughtless finally figured out where they were? Snap hoped so. It would be nice to have some weaponry like that on their side. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of using one against Rudy and Penny.

The thought of them made him flinch, his heart tightening. Not because he cared about them. No, they were the enemy. They hurt him. Why would he give a fuck about them? But...there was something else that had him concerned. He recalled what Delta had said before, about Penny and the red chalk. He couldn't help but wonder one thing.

Why would Delta think that this plan was a good idea?

Snap had his doubts that Thoughtless approved of it. He was certain that Delta was just looking for someone to blame. Thoughtless wouldn't be stupid enough to try to merge someone with red chalk. That idea was just ludicrous. It wouldn't even work; they would waste all that time for nothing.

But even if it did work, why would Penny, or gawd forbid, Rudy, be chosen? Those two were dangerous enough as regular children. Why would Delta want to risk making them even more dangerous by having one turned into red chalk? Rudy with a piece of red chalk that was Penny... He shuddered. That would be a horrific thing to witness. And to think, this plan was to be executed by Delta, one of Skrawl's own. He couldn't help but shake his head at this.

Why would Delta want to do something so crazy? Why would he risk so much on a ridiculous and dangerous plan? Did he not consider what might happen if it all went wrong? What did he plan to do if it went right? He did have a thought on what that was, and it made his gut burn.

Delta might be trying to usurp Skrawl and Thoughtless. That had to be it. The zoner was feeling miffed about losing his second in command spot, and he decided to take it out on them by fulfilling this plan. He would have then tried to find a way to gain control of them, and he would have used them against Skrawl and Thoughtless and force them to back down, letting him be the leader. Although he knew that such a thing was unlikely, considering the memotrice's powers, the very idea of such an attempted usurp boiled Snap's blood.

How dare he... How could Delta do something like this? How could he betray the one who took him in and took care of him? How could he do this to Skrawl? What had that jellybean done to deserve this kind of reaction from him? Sure Skrawl was tough, but for good reason. That wasn't an excuse to try to attack him like this.

Snap glared harshly at Delta. At this point, the Beanie Boy froze as he stared into Snap's eyes. It seemed that he was unnerved by his expression. Good. He was glad he was unnerved. He had a lot of explaining to do. He looked over at the pole, staring at it for a few moments. Then he grabbed onto it and began to walk closer to him. There was time. Skrawl wouldn't be back for a while. He might as well take this opportunity to interrogate Delta. And when he found out more information, he will give it to Skrawl so he understood the full extent of Delta's betrayal. Skrawl would award him quite well.

Delta widened his eyes as he watched Snap get closer with that long bat. He struggled a little, but he soon stopped, knowing full well he couldn't escape. He took in a few quick breaths before he attempted to put on a brave face. He narrowed his eyes at Snap and said, "What do you want now, you little runt?"

Snap bared his teeth. "I want to know what you were planning with the red chalk..."

"I already told you!" Delta rolled his eyes. "Thoughtless and Skrawl wanted to use it for... Ow!" Snap had struck him. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"I don't want to hear any lying. Now why don't you be a good Beanie Boy and tell me what you're really up to?" Snap's voice was a growl. "Or do you want to meet this pole on a more..personal level...?"

At this, Delta's face paled. Any sign of bravery was gone as he shook his head desperately. "No! I'm telling the truth! Please...don't!"

A twisted smile spread along Snap's mouth. "I'm sorry, but that is not what I wanted to hear..." He raised the pole up, pulling it back as if he were about to strike. "I will give you one more chance. Fail to answer me appropriately, and you are going to know this pole even more so than I do..." He raised the pole, his arm muscles tensing up. The zoner's eyes widened in horror. "So..are you going to..."

Snap was interruped when he heard someone smashing in through the door. He whipped his head around and he could see a Beanie Boy hovering there. Snap stared in shock for a few moments and then he narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"What are you doing here?!" Snap dropped the pole as he headed towards the Beanie Boy, who cowered a little in his presence. Snap stood up as straight as he could, a sign of how much higher he ranked above this Beanie Boy. "You shouldn't be here! I told all of you to stay out!" He wasn't sure what gave this Beanie Boy the gall to interrupt him, the second-in-command, but he was about to find out. "What is going on?"

"I'm sorry, s-s-sir..." The Beanie Boy lowered his head, his hands fumbling together. "I-I was sent here by..."

"By whom?!" Snap hissed. "Tell me, you piece of shit!"

The Beanie Boy moved away from him, his head turning to one side to avoid direct eye contact. "S-S-Skrawl..."

At this, Snap's body immediately relaxed, his frown dropping. He stared down at the zoner with a softer expression. If it was Skrawl who sent him, then that was a different story. He couldn't exactly fault him for following the orders from the one who was first-in-command. "Okay then..." He spoke more gently this time. He was still a little pissed, but he made an effort to sound calmer. He wasn't going to get much out of this guy if he continued to act hostile, he realized. "What does Skrawl want?"

The Beanie Boy turned his head towards Delta. "He..He wants you to let him go." At this, Delta's eyes twinkled in relief.

Snap frowned in disappointment. "I was about to interrogate him. Can't it wait?"

"Interrogate him for what?" Asked the Beanie Boy.

Snap rolled his eyes. Did the zoner really ask such a stupid question? "For information, you dolt." He paused for a moment and sighed. Might as well go into more detail, since he knew that was going to be this zoner's next question. "He was plotting against Skrawl and I wanted to figure out just what he was doing."

"What?! But I wasn't...!" Delta started to say.

"Shut it!" Snap warned him, shooting him a hard glare. He then turned his attention back to the lower ranking Beanie Boy. "As you can see, he's gotten a little defiant. He is upset that I am second-in-command and he wants to get revenge on Skrawl for basically dumping him." His lip pulled up into a snarl. "And he thought he could get away with it..."

"Well...actually..."

Snap stared down at the Beanie Boy in confusion. He noticed the look in the Beanie Boy's eye. He clearly wanted to say something, and it looked quite urgent. He couldn't help but wonder what it was. He knew it likely related to Delta in some way. But how? Was this zoner in deeper hot water than before? Or was it someone else who panned this hostile take over and Delta was nothing more than a pawn?

Well there was one way to find out.

"What is it?" Snap asked when the Beanie Boy didn't continue. "Come on. Speak up!"

The Beanie Boy remained silent for a few moments. He looked pretty nervous about talking, as if he was a little unsure. Snap used his hand to try to urge him to speak, but he did not say another word. Due to his growing frustration, he was worried that any attempt to encourage him to speak would result in a growly, anger-tinged voice. But thankfully, the silence was short-lived and the Beanie Boy did finally speak up.

"It turns out Skraw really did have that planned. He had just forgotten about it." The Beanie Boy said. Snap's eyes widened at this. The Beanie Boy looked up at Delta. "That means that he was only doing his job, and therefore, didn't deserve punishment."

Snap's mouth nearly dropped open at this. His mind went numb for a brief second before he started to stammer. "Wh-What...?"

"Yes! I told you!" Came Delta's gleeful voice. "I told you I wasn't lying!"

Snap hardly paid attention to him. He felt something close in all around him. A strange sensation that he never thought he would feel at this point. He knew this sensation was guilt. It clung to him tightly, threatening to rip him apart. He could feel the reality of what he had done crash in all around him, and he could feel his breath intakes increasing in speed. He let the Beanie Boy's words ring through his head, his eyes widening further as he understood what they were implying.

He had punished Delta for no reason. He had been telling the truth, and yet he had still struck him around like some kind of rag doll. Granted, a part of him still enjoyed it. But another part couldn't help but feel sick at himself. He knew right away that he had done wrong. Even though he couldn't have known any better, that screw ups and mistakes happen all the time, he couldn't help but feel some level of guilt for this. He looked over at Delta and he momentarily saw himself in that position, with Rudy and Penny striking him. He shuddered and ripped his eyes away.

Well, there was no use crying over spilled milk, as the saying goes. He couldn't undo what he had done. But he still needed to take responsibility for what he had done. That is what all good commanding officers had to do. He was a general here and he needed to start acting like one. He looked over at Delta and decided to begin. Swallowing his pride, he said one thing.

"My apologies, Delta."

He tried to ignore the arrogant sneer that came over Delta's face. He turned his head away and he focused on the Beanie Boy that delivered the news. "What does Skrawl want me to do?"

"He wants you to release Delta and the both of you to report to his office." The Beanie Boy explained. "He has an assignment for you two."

"An assignment with him?" Mocked Delta. "Oh this oughtta be interesting!"

Snap glared at Delta, but he didn't say another word. If this is what Skrawl commanded, he couldn't simply go against his wishes. He took in a deep breath and he headed over towards Delta.

Once he was there, he reached up and he grabbed onto the rope that held him up. He worked his hand over the knot. A little difficult, especially with how tight it was. But after a few moments of fumbling, he was able to loosen it up. He raised it up as high as he could go, in turn lowering Delta to the ground. Then, having no choice, he let go, and the zoner dropped down the rest of the way. There was a loud thud and several coughs.

"You idiot!" Delta gagged as some of the dust on the ground got into his mouth. "You couldn't have thought of a better way to get me down?!"

Snap didn't reply. He simply went over towards the fallen zoner and he worked on the ropes. Slowly, he was able to untie Delta. Once Delta had enough ropes removed from him, he simply flexed his arms out enough to cause the remaining ropes to snap. He locked eyes with Snap for a few moments before he smirked and hovered above him.

"Well, what are you waiting for, 'general'...?" Delta said with a sneer. "Let's go over and see what our leader wants!"

Snap grumbled softly, but he obligued immediately. He began to follow behind Delta slowly as they were led by the lower ranking Beanie Boy to where Skrawl was waiting for them.

sss

Rudy let out a grunt as the Beanie Boys dropped the dome into a large, open room. He wobbled from side to side as he tried to keep his footing. Desperate for leverege, he gripped against the wall of the dome. It wasn't much, but what little it offered did help to brace him as the room slammed against the hard floor. He jerked a little, but was soon able to regain his posture. After he had recovered, he took a moment to look around the room.

Skrawl had the Beanie Boys take him into what looked like a tall, cylinder-shaped tower with no top. It didn't look too large, but the dome he was in was small enough to fit in. The Beanie Boys had lowered him most of the way. Good thing, too. The tower itself was quite tall. If they had dropped him, there was no way he would have survived the impact. He was still shaky from the drop that he had to endure, but at least he was no worse for tear.

He looked over and, not to his surprise, Skrawl was standing there, his arms folded behind his back and a smirk spread across his face. "I hope you enjoy your new accomodations, Master Tabootie." His smile spread a little further. "I would get comfortable if I were you. Things are going to get less pleasant later on."

Rudy scoffed at this. "Like hell you would ever be pleasant."

Skrawl chuckled. "I am going to miss your defiant attitude, Rudy Tabootie. But at the same time, I will relish in your demise. And then you will be of more use to me."

Rudy blinked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh I do wish I have time to tell you." Skrawl said as he turned his head as if to look at some clock that wasn't there. "But I really have to be going right now. I will come back later, though, and speak to you about what will happen. I will give you a hint, though." He leaned himself closer, staring Rudy right in his eye. "It's the same fate your dear friend, the genius girl, is going through right now."

At this, Rudy's eyes widened. "What's happening to her?!"

"Uh uh... You will find out later. I think I will give you some time to think about that." Skrawl motioned towards the illusion bed that was positioned behind Rudy. "Go ahead. Kick your feet up, relax, and think!" He turned his back to Rudy. "As for me, I've got to get going. I will give you some time to accomodate yourself more with your new, temporary home." With that, he began to walk away.

"Wait! Come back!" Rudy called out. "What are you talking about?!"

But it was no use. Skrawl had quickly disappeared from his sights, leaving him alone. The dome overhead was closed. So there was a lid after all. But he didn't pay much mind to that. All he could do was stare in the direction Skrawl had left. Even as most of the room went dark, save for some light in the dome itself, even when he could no longer see Skrawl, he couldn't tear his eyes away, his mind reeling from the small bit of information he had given him.

What was going on with Penny? When did Skrawl catch her? What did he plan on doing with her? He knew that the fate wasn't a good one, if Skrawl's voice was anything to go by, as well as the things he said before. He knew that this fate was one that he would have to endure himself. Just what kind of fate awaited him when Skrawl decided that it was time?

Wait, why was he worried about Penny? He let out a low growl, baring his teeth. She had hurt him earlier. She took out his eye. He reached his hand up and laid it upon his injured right eye. The bleeding had stopped, although the blood was still a little soft. Just a light touch was enough to make him yelp and recoil. He was glad for the cloth tied around his head, but this did little to stop the pain that was coursing through his skull. He clenched his teeth tightly as he tried to endure the pain.

A part of him, a darker side that he did not expect, was almost glad Penny was captured. Not that he would ever wish death upon her, but he felt that she deserved a little pain for what she had done to him. Perhaps now, she would understand the full amount of suffering she had caused him when she betrayed him like that. She could have avoided this whole miss if she hadn't thrown him against that shelf...

But then again... it was an accident, right? She sounded really upset by it and she had tried to help him. If she had deliberately meant to hurt him, she wouldn't have tried to make up for what she did. And being happy that she would be in pain... that was a pretty disgusting thing to feel. Penny didn't deserve the suffering that Skrawl would likely dish out upon her.

But regardless, trapped in this cage, there was little he could do. He sat hismelf on the bed and leaned his head back, staring up towards the ceiling as his back rested against the soft blankets. His mind swirled around, thoughts intermixing with others. A feeling of dread and worry came over him as he thought of Penny. Despite his anger towards her, he still cared about her. He didn't want her to get badly hurt, and he still felt a desire to want to go help her. If only he wasn't trapped in here...

His left eye closed lightly as he let his thoughts overtake him. He began to ask himself one question over and over again.

What was going on with Penny?

sss

Rudy... What was happening with him?

Penny couldn't help but think that thought while she hung there, suspended in the air, her head lowered. Her eyes were half-closed from exhaustion; she had struggled so hard to get herself free but ended up overexerting herself. She felt as though her arms were going to rip right from their sockets. She could feel her muscles and joints burning, threatening to tear right out of the sockets themselves.

She could feel the scaly paw of Cornerstone as she continued to hold onto her, preventing her from being able to let go of the red chalk. Penny could feel its burning energy pump through her body, into her veins, spreading up. She flinched, trying hard to push the sensation out of her mind. But it was so invasive. It kept violating her mind, threatening to take over her entire skull, causing it to practically radiate with burning heat.

A sickening feeling settled in her stomach as she smacked her lips together. She was starting to feel so sick. The fear swelling up inside of her was getting to be too much. She struggled to keep herself from throwing up, but she wasn't sure how long she coud keep this up for. The strange energy pulsing through her was contributing to this feeling of nausea, making it much harder for her to control. She sucked in a deep breath, trembling as the raw power kept burning into her, and she could feel tears well up in her eyes as she realized she couldn't escape it.

In the midst of her thoughts, she couldn't help but think about Rudy. What was happening with him? What was being done to him? So many thoughts raced through her head. It was making her feel even worse. This, combined with this burning sensation, it wasn't a good combination. She found it difficult to hold herself still, and wracks of shivers kept shooting through her body.

She felt a horrific wave of guilt strike her in the stomach. She flinched, struggling to keep it under control. But she found it to be impossible. She couldn't fight the burning tears that came from her eyes. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't fight against the guilt that held her in its tight grasp.

Poor Rudy... Despite it being an accident, she still couldn't help but feel stinging guilt in her stomach whenever she thought about him. She could still see the event in her mind's eye, causing her to shake and quiver. She wished she had been more careful. She wished that she had watched what she was doing. She had been so determined to get Rudy off, she didn't even start to think of what she was doing, and by the time she realized it, it was already too late. That scream...she would never forget the scream...

Perhaps, in some way, this was a twisted form of karma. A punishment that she was being forced to endure to teach her a lesson about taking action with no plan. A punishment to get back at her for hurting Rudy. A part of her was almost accepting of this. She felt that she deserved a little payback, despite knowing it was an accident. She wasn't sure if Rudy would ever forgive her, but at least he could live with the knowledge knowing that she was willing to make up for her mistakes somehow.

But the rational side of her knew that this wasn't going to solve anything. She couldn't obsess over punishing herself. And she knew, even if she had doubts, that Rudy would, somehow, forgive her. It might not be any time soon. But he was her best friend; he would understand the situation if he calmed down enough to let her explain. She would never do anything to deliberately hurt him, and he would understand that. At least, she hoped he did.

She glanced back at Cornerstone. The snake zoner hadn't broken eye contact with her much since she came over. Despite her face looking blank, the expression in her eyes alone told her that she was clearly enjoying this. She could almost see the smile spreading across her scaly face as she continued to hold onto her hand, preventing her from letting go of the red chalk. No matter how hard Penny tried, she just couldn't get the red chalk out of her hand.

But she knew she had to get it away somehow. She remembered that Beanie Boy's words all too well. They echoed in her skull, radiating throughout her head. She gritted her teeth as she struggled to keep those haunting words out of her head. But try as she might, the words just wouldn't stop. They would repeat themselves over and over again.

'You are going to become one with the red chalk.'

No...no she couldn't allow that to happen. She didn't want to have any part of this red chalk. She didn't want to partake in its destruction, its evil ways. She didn't want to become the enemy. Nor did she want to be killed for this thing. She wanted nothing to do with it.

But despite her attempts at getting away, she could still feel the red chalk continuing to invade her body. She could feel it moving through her arm and throughout her chest, stomach, and everywhere else. She could feel it pulsating through her. The red chalk all around her appeared to be glowing even brighter, an indication that its connection with her was getting stronger. She struggled to fight it, but she wound up feeling horrified as she felt a tingling in her head. The red chalk was starting to invade her mind. It was only a matter of moments before she could feel her thoughts start to alter.

When it first happened, when she thought a bit darkly of Rudy, she was horrified. She could feel her stomach sting and her blood chilling. She shook off the thought and managed to keep it at bay. But more thoughts soon came. They weren't her own; they were distorted thoughts the red chalk was trying to pump into her and make her believe. They kept coming in. Wave after wave. They just wouldn't stop. She shut her eyes tightly, struggling to cope with them. They crowed her mind, giving her a headache. Unable to take it, she threw her head back and let out a scream.

After the scream dissipated, she hung her head, her eyes opening partially. She could feel a few frustrated tears move down her face. She took in a few shaky breaths as she felt her self weaken. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. She was exhausted, having spent much of her energy on all this struggling. And while she panted, she could see the smirk on Cornerstone's eyes, that look of satisfied, gleeful revenge, and she could feel the energy from the red chalk creep in further.

She hadn't bothered trying to speak to Cornerstone. What was the point? She would never listen to her. She couldn't speak anyway, and besides, it's not like anything she said would make her let go. Cornerstone was more interested in getting revenge on her and Rudy than she was getting out of here where she was apparently prisoned, clearly. Why would she waste her breath on her? And then the red chalk..

Her eyes widened slightly at this as something clicked in her mind. She remembered something that Delta had said. Something about how she shouldn't spend her energy or else she wouldn't be accepted. She still had some energy left, and the red chalk was working faster because...

...because it might be losing its grip on her. It was working harder so it could get her in and... That's it.

Penny wasn't entirely sure how long she could keep doing this. She still had some energy left in her. If she kept this up, push herself as far beyond her limits as she could, maybe the red chalk would eventually let go of her and release her from its grasp. Or... it might just speed up the process and she was sending herself to her fate even faster. But what other choice did she have? She needed some way to deter the red chalk from taking her, and if she could somehow manage to convince it that she wasn't worthy of it, then perhaps it would leave her alone.

Taking in a deep breath, she mustered up as much strength as she could. Giving a smirk to a confused Cornerstone, she began to struggle vigorously.


	23. To Make A Deal

Terry grumbled softly as she pulled into the driveway of the science laboratory. She never thought that she would be coming back here, and to be honest, she didn't even want to be here. She wasn't sure why she even bothered to answer the call.

Oh well, she was here now. And Dr. Von Doktor did say he was willing to offer something worthwhile. Exactly what that is, she had no idea. Well there was one way to find out.

She remembered when she first came here a few months back. She had been trying to gather more information on this world of chalk and she felt that he might hold some clues. Her interview with him was what led her to believe that something was up. It was him that made her realize that this world of chalk permitted drawing anything into existence, even if it didn't make sense. And it was through him that she realized that Rudy must have been involved. Why else would there be a perpetual motion machine designed by him?

Then again, she wasn't entirely sure if her hunch was correct. She and Vinnie did experiment with a zoner of their own. She already forgot its name; she had been so furious about the failure that she just wanted to forget the whole thing. She didn't even know if that zoner came to life or not. For all she knew, she and Vinnie were waiting for a wild goose to find them.

For now, she had given up on using the chalkboard to draw anything. She wanted some sort of test first. She wasn't sure yet how she was going to pull that off, though. She needed to draw something that Rudy would surely mention, and then spy on him and see if he does. She had a few ideas, but she wasn't sure how to execute it properly. And if that zoner did come to life and he did see it, then she'd have to be extra careful not to do anything that would make him suspicious. All she wanted was enough evidence to confirm her notion. Then she could strike.

She pushed those thoughts aside for now. She doubted that Dr. Von Doktor was calling about the world of chalk. He wasn't exactly a believer in that sort of thing. The man believed that a little boy somehow defied all scientific knowledge and created perpetual motion, and yet he would not believe her about a world made of chalk occupied by beings erased from a chalkboard. The thought frustrated her. The man was such a hypocrite. So...why did she agree to come here again?

Oh well, she was here now, wasn't she? It was too late to back out. This place had cameras placed around. He could easily check the security footage and see if her news van had pulled in. Her van was unmistakeable and if he found out she was here and then backed out, he was going to have a few choice words for him. Not that she'd care too much, but she wasn't interested in having him rant at her for hours. Might as well get this over with.

After she parked her van and climbed out of it, she made her way towards the building. She took a moment and pulled her head back. She was still a little impressed with how big this place was. Even more incredible is how Dr. Von Doktor was even able to keep his job still. After how the other scientists mocked him, she would have thought he'd gone out of business. But the old man surprised her and he was able to recover his reputation...mostly. There were still people who mocked him, but he was able to go on regardless.

She soon entered the building and headed straight down until she reached the room where the receptionist was. The room was completely empty besides the receptionist. This was something Terry was glad for. She wasn't interested in hearing any snide remarks about her 'crazy world of chalk theories'. She got enough of those from work to last a lifetime. She quickly approached the receptionist, wanting to get this done as soon as possible.

The receptionist immediately noticed her. The woman gained a skeptical expression and the slightest hint of an amused smile. Terry hesitated for a moment as she realized that this woman must be familiar with her chalk world theories, and her expression alone was enough to tell her that she didn't believe her. Terry tried not to let it bother her too much and she forced herself to walk forward. The woman's judgmental stare seemed to get stronger as she got closer, but Terry managed to push aside the uncomfortable thoughts. She was soon able to reach the desk and now she stood before the receptionist.

"You are Terry Bouffant..?" The receptionist asked in a slightly amused tone. Terry gritted her teeth, but said nothing as she forced herself to nod her head slowly. The receptionist chuckled lightly as she reached towards the phone. "I will tell Dr. Von Doktor you are here."

Terry decided to try her best to ignore the non-professional attitude the receptionist had displayed and went over towards one of the chairs to wait. She doubted it would take very long. At most a few minutes. She could just stand there, but she didn't want to have to deal with any cutting remarks from taht woman. So she chose the seat furthest away from the receptionist and sat down on it. She folded her arms against her chest and waited.

Thankfully it only took a couple of minutes. She could hear the door opening. She lifted her head up and looked over just in time to see a woman standing there, her head covered in blonde hair. Her outfit suggested she was an assistant of some kind. Most likely Dr. Von Doktor's. The woman looked over in her direction, smiled, and motioned with her finger.

"Dr. Von Doktor will see you now."

Terry immediately got up out of her seat. She made her way towards the door, meeting up with the woman. She entered into the hallway, the door shutting behind her. Terry didn't waste any time and she began to follow the woman down the hallway, sticking close behind her.

After a few minutes, making a few turns along the way, they eventually stopped in front of a door. Upon quick examination, Terry noticed the plaque which read 'Dr. Von Doktor' on it. It looked a little too nice compared to what she was expecting. But then, it wasn't like she was expecting too much. She watched as the woman situated herself in front of the door. She raised her hand up, the fingers curled downward, and started to knock on the door.

It only took a few seconds for Dr. Von Doktor to answer. "What iz it?"

"It's Ms. Bouffant, sir." The woman replied. "She's here."

A pause, and then, "Ah! Let her in, please!"

The woman opened up the door and she and Terry immediately went inside. Situated in the room was a desk with some piles of paperwork on it and a somewhat old-looking computer that still looked like it had many good years left in it. In front of the desk were a few chairs. Not the most comfortable-looking ones, but they would do the trick just fine. Overhead were a few short strips of light, one of them blinking as if it were ready to go out at any given moment. It was quite the annoyance and Terry had to concentrate to avoid letting it distract her from the person sitting in the dark-colored chair behind the desk.

Dr. Von Doktor was leaning back in the chair, his fingers interlocked together. A small smile was spread across his face. He looked a little too happy to see her, making Terry wonder what he had planned for her. For her, this meeting could be unpredictable. Unlike last time, it was Dr. Von Doktor who called her over, not the other way around. She really had no idea what to expect. It wasn't like Dr. Von Doktor had told her exactly what he wanted with her. Well, she supposed she was going to find out sooner or later.

"Please, have a zeat." Dr. Von Doktor motioned for Terry to sit down. He then turned his attention to the woman. "Zank you, Mz. Charlotte. You are dizmizzed."

Ms. Charlotte bowed slightly to Dr. Von Doktor. A strange gesture that Terry didn't see in the work place too often. At least not like this. Then again, she was used to working in a newstation, so perhaps some places handle things like this differently.

Oh well, that didn't matter to her. As soon as Ms. Charlotte left the room, she turned her attention to Dr. Von Doktor. The old man was looking at her again, his smile broadening a little. She frowned slightly at him, folding her arms against her chest. She hoped that, whatever he had called her in for, it was important enough for her to consider. And hopefully not another one of those 'small time gigs' that she was forced to do ever since her reputation was ruined by that rotten little brat.

"Ah, Mz. Bouffant... I am zo glad zat you dezided to come after all!" Dr. Von Doktor's voice was a little strange. It was happy, but there was something else on it that she couldn't quite identify. "I waz worried zat you would juzt zkip out or zomezing. I mean..." He held his hand out, gesturing to her. "...you are a bit busy wiz your news job."

Terry curled her lip up into a snarl. She didn't like the tone he had used there. "Watch it..."

"Okay, okay..." Dr. Von Doktor moved his hands back, raised into the air. His eyes were slightly wide, though it was hard to tell if he was really shocked or not by her reaction. "No need to get all tezty!" Terry just glared at him. The old man cleared his throat a couple of times and then placed his hands back on the desk. "I didn't call you here to make fun of you and your...zeoriez." He paused for a moment, and then he continued. "I have zomezing elze in mind."

Terry tilted her head slightly. "Oh? And what could you possibly want with someone like me?"

Dr. Von Doktor leaned forward in his chair. "I need your help wiz zomezing."

"Really now? You want my help?" Terry placed a hand to her chest, her eyes widening in mild surprise. "Now what would a run down reporter like myself possibly be able to do in order to help such an esteemed scientist like yourself?" Her voice was laced with sarcasm. However if Dr. Von Doktor detected it, he was ignoring it. Probably a good thing.

"I rezently had a visit from Mr. Tabootie. Not too long ago, actually." Dr. Von Doktor said. "He waz..not exactly in a good mood."

So Rudy's old man decided to pay this scientist a visit. But why? What would Mr. Tabootie possibly want with someone like Dr. Von Doktor? Terry would have thought that he would want nothing to do with him, especially after that incident a few months back. Suddenly, Terry felt a touch of interest. Perhaps this meeting wouldn't be as boring as she thought it was going to be. Time to figure out exactly what was going on.

"Why would that butcher want to come visit you?" Terry asked, putting stress on the word 'butcher'. "That's not exactly a combination I would think I'd see."

"And no many would zink zat a zmall time news reporter like yourzelf would be called to meet wiz me." Dr. Von Doktor retorted, his eyes narrowing a little. "Zo I guezz lotz of ztrange zings have been happening lately."

Terry hissed at this small insult. If she wasn't interested in figuring out why Rudy's father had come here, she would have just called the meeting off and left. She did her best to stifle her anger. There was really no point in getting too angry at this guy. She reminded herself of how he humiliated himself in front of his fellow scientists. Even though he had regained his reputation, that memory was still quite enjoyable to think about. It helped to remind her of how she wasn't alone, that other people had bee humiliated by that retched little boy. A part of her almost wished she had seen it, just to see someone else suffer at the hands of that boy.

She quickly returned her attention to the topic at hand. She held up her hand in gesture and said, "Touche... Now, can you please tell me why that man was here?"

"Yez of courze... I almozt forgot." Any traces of anger were gone from the old scientist's face. He rested his hands on his desk, tapping his fingertips together. "Now about zat man.." He paused for a moment, biting his lip as if he were trying to figure out exactly how to continue. Terry simply leaned back and watched him with a slight frown, waiting for him to continue. He then looked back at her, and he asked in a tentative voice, "Remember Rudy? His zon?"

Terry felt a bolt of fire rush through her chest at the mention of that name. "Yes..." She managed to say, her teeth clenched, her voice growly. "I remember him..."

"Well, it zeems he iz mizzing." A pause. "Along wiz Penny."

Terry stared at him blankly for a few moments. Then, slowly, a smile spread across her face and she let out a few low chuckles. She couldn't help but feel a bout of satisfaction knowing that Rudy had landed himself in some trouble. That boy was long overdue for some karma after how he had humiliated her on at that news station from several months back. She noticed the scientist's confused expression, but she ignored it.

Acting like she had done nothing, she said, "So...he's missing, you say?"

Dr. Von Doktor stared at her for a few moments, and then he nodded his head. "Yez... he iz." He seemed a little hesitate now, as if unnerved by her chuckling. He might even be having seconds thoughts now, but it was clear that he felt there was no turning back now. So he just continued on talking, "Mr. Tabootie zinkz I am rezponsible. But...az much az I hate zee kid, I don't zink I'd have it in me to want to hurt him. Ezpecially wiz my reputation having barely recovered."

"Uh huh.. I see..." Terry nodded her head slowly as she listened to the man's words. "And you..what...?" She narrowed her eyes slightly as she tilted her head to one side. "You still haven't told me exactly what you want me for. What exactly did you want me to do?"

Dr. Von Doktor interlocked his fingers against the desk. He bit his lip for a few moment, turning his head to one side. His frown suggested that he was struggling to think of how to say this. She wondered if he was slowing down due to her laughter before. Perhaps he was realizing that he should have called someone else to help him out. After all, she might end up having ulterior plans contradictory to his own.

And that may very well be the case. Terry wasn't sure what Dr. Von Doktor wanted her to do, but she knew what she wanted to do with Rudy. She had little interest in saving him, and she had a mind to want to teach him a lesson. She still hated him for what he had done to her, and the idea of being able to get back at him for his bratty behavior was something that quite delighted her. Due to this opportunity, she tried her best not to smile too much and she stifled any laughter, doing what she could to make herself look more serious.

Soon Dr. Von Doktor looked back at her. His eyes were filled with...something. She couldn't quite tell. Not worry or skepticism, but...perhaps an odd combination of both? It certainly wasn't happiness or eagerness. His uncertainty about her was painted all over his old, wrinkled face. It was too late to back out now, he knew. She already knew what was going on. Even if he told her nothing, she could always try something on her own.

"I want you to help ensure zat no rumorz about me kidnapping zat boy get out. I don't want my reputation ruined again." Dr. Von Doktor paused for a moment, and then he continued, "And if pozzible, try to find out what really happened to zat boy and his friend. If you find out anyzing, please report it."

Terry scratched her chin thoughtfully. "And what makes you think I'll be willing to help you out?"

"Zey are children!" Dr. Von Doktor shouted at her as if that would somehow convince her to go. She just looked at him blankly, an eyebrow raised. She waited for him to continue. Dr. Von Doktor didn't take too long to continue. "And... I... you.. I mean..we..." He stumbled upon his words. Terry watched in amusement as the man tried to come up with a reason for why she should want to help him. He eventually came up with, "I'm willing to pay you a large zum of money if you help me."

Terry felt her eyes twinkle at this. A large bag of money certainly sounded enticing. She could use it to help her further her quest to expose that chalk world. With a large chunk of her money cut off because of her 'crazy' chalk world theories and being demoted, it had gotten a little tough lately getting the equipmeent she needed to do some proper spying. If this man was willing to pay her a lot of money for this... Then sure, why not?

"Okay then..." Terry held out her hand towards him. "It's a deal."

Dr. Von Doktor stared at her hand for a moment. Then a small, half smile spread across his face as he got up and took her hand, shaking it. "I'm sure we will benefit each ozer."

Terry smirked. "Oh I'm sure we will, indeed..."

sss

Ah yes, this was more like it. Having the overcompetent fake general lowering his head while he, the true general, walking with his head raised high, a smile on his face. He felt a strong sense of pride swell up inside of his chest, creating that wonderful, warm feeling of power. Yes, he missed this feeling. He didn't want it to ever go away.

He turned his head to occasionally watch the fake general, noting his posture and his expression of shame and defeat. He couldn't help but chuckle lightly at this. So fitting after what he had done to him. He wondered if he would be allowed to tie him up and hang him like a pinata and strike him like this fake general had earlier.

Delta shook his head and concentrated on the walk down to Skrawl's office. Petty revenge wasn't what was important here. Even if the idea of doing to Snap what he had done to him was tempting, and even if that would result in such wonderful feelings of domination and control, he didn't want to do anything without Skrawl's permission. He had his doubts that he would demote Snap anytime soon, and he was not going to be happy if he saw him doing anything to the blue boy, his present second-in-command. So Snap still had him beat there.

He knew this show of submission wasn't really for him. It was for Skrawl. Snap had felt shame of hurting him when it turned out he was innocent. Once he realized his mistake, he felt fear not towards him specifically, but towards Skrawl. He wasn't sure what Skrawl was going to do with him later. Was he going to punish him? Was he going to let him off with a warning? Was he going to do nothing?

Personally, Delta hoped that Skrawl would do something. Snap, regardless of being mistaken or not, still had wasted valuable time they could have spent doing something more important. Snap should have been more thorough and should have looked at things from another angle. If he had shown the intelligence and initiative to do that, then this mess wouldn't have happened.

Oh well, at least that ugly situation had been taken care of. He wasn't sure how Skrawl had realized he was speaking the truth. He didn't seem to remember before, so what had reminded him? Perhaps it was that memotrice? Yeah, Thoughtless probably had something to do with it. Despite being a bit nervous around that thing, he did feel a sense of gratitude towards it this time. It probably helped Skrawl realize his mistake.

Or did it...?

Delta nearly stopped walking when a thought crossed his mind. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked left and right. His walking had slowed down greatly as his mind was invaded by several thoughts, his mouth hanging open slightly. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think it possible. But...could it be that...?

He grunted as he felt Snap collide with him. He stumbled forward a little and he whipped his head around to shoot a nasty glare at the zoner. Snap just sneered at him as he brushed himself off. He didn't bother to try to apologize to him. Delta wished in that moment that he wasn't still sore from earlier, otherwise he'd be taking to the air and tackling this little piece of shit right now. But instead, he was forced to act a little civil. He took a step towards Snap and he motioned his hand towards him.

"Are you coming?" Delta asked.

Snap looked at him like he grew another head. "Of course I am! What, did you think I was going to skip out on this?"

Delta let out a bitter, quick chuckle. "Well knowing you..."

Snap growled at this, clenching his teeth. "Watch it..."

Delta couldn't help but smirk at the zoner's anger. It made him want to keep doing other things to annoy him. The only thing stopping him was that meeting with Skrawl. He couldn't allow himself to be late. Snap, who cares? If he's late, then good. Then maybe Skrawl would realize what a mistake it was to put this little brat as second-in-command.

But of course, this wasn't the only thing bothering him. He couldn't help but continue to think of Thoughtless. There was something that swept through his mind that chilled him. He didn't want to think it to be true and he wanted to push it out of his mind. But he found it impossible. He couldn't just keep his mouth shut about this. He had to speak to someone about it. But the only person here with him was Snap...

Delta clenched his teeth slightly as he turned his head away. He really didn't want to talk to Snap about this, but..there wasn't much of a choice, now was there? He had to talk to someone, anyone, about this. Even if he would rather not take this zoner's advice, a part of him was hoping that Snap had some sort of idea. Maybe it was possible that he, too, shared a similar suspicion, even if it wasn't related to this very same thing. Well the only way to find out was to ask him. So swallowing his pride and ego, Delta let out a sigh and moved closer to Snap, giving him a serious look.

"I need to ask you something." Delta asked in a soft voice.

Now it was Snap's turn to chuckle. "You want to ask moi for something?" He placed his hand to his chest. "Why I'm so flattered! You..." He motioned his hands towards him, palms facing him. "...the esteemed former second-in-command, who has more experience than me, wants to ask me..." He then put his hands against himself. "...a question. I never thought I'd see the day!"

Delta tried not to growl at this. This was pretty difficult, given Snap's rather smug attitude. He sucked in a deep breath and forced himself to speak the question. "What do you think about Thoughtless?"

Snap's smile faded slightly, but it was still there, and still just as amused looking. "Thoughtless?" He tilted his head slightly to one side. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that..."

"You don't trust it, do you?"

"...I guess not..."

"I see. And why not...?"

Delta paused for a moment. He looked over at Snap, who was staring at him, waiting for him to continue. He looked away for a few moments, struggling to get his thoughts together. He still wasn't entirely sure how he was going to talk to Snap about this. He would have the same difficulty with anyone, really. What he was thinking would require a lot of proof to back it up. It wasn't just a simple claim. It would affect everything.

When he felt he was ready, he sucked on his lips for a second, his teeth pressing against the flesh, and then he forced an exhale out of his mouth. He looked over at Snap and said, "Don't you think it's strange that Skrawl would one minute act like this part of the plan didn't exist, but then later, he's all 'oops my bad'?"

Snap narrowed his eyes slightly at this. "Why are you upset about that? Shouldn't you be thrilled that Skrawl now believes you?"

Delta could detect the anger hidden underneath that. And while he would love to rub it in the zoner's face and continue to smack down that disgusting ego of his, Delta knew what he was about to say was far more important than any grudge he had against this zoner. "Well I am, but...something doesn't seem right." He folded his arms against his chest. "He didn't realize he was 'wrong' until after he talked to Thoughtless." He looked at the ground for a moment as he thought about this, and then he lifted his head and turned it towards Snap. "Do you think that it had anything to do with it?"

"Well yeah. I don't see what's so strange about that." Snap placed a hand against the wall, leaning towards it. "Thoughtless just reminded him. That's all."

"Perhaps. But still..I can't help but get a creepy vibe about that memotrice." Delta looked over his shoulder, glaring off in the distance as if he thought that Thoughtless would jump out at any moment. "It's too big a coincidence I think. I have to wonder just how much we can really trust that memotrice..."

Snap let out a sigh. "Look, this sounds all find and dandy, but we should be going to Skrawl's office. We are already late enough as it is. So let's pick up the pace." He gave the Beanie Boy half a smirk. "Unless you want Skrawl to get even more angry with the two of us, and give us both a very 'special' punishment."

Delta shot him a quick glare, but he soon nodded his head. As much as he hated to admit it, the little zoner did have a point. He would worry about his thoughts regarding the memotrice later. Right now, he and Snap needed to get to Skrawl before he got angrier than he already could be. The two immediately stopped their conversation and continued on their way.

sss

Penny wasn't sure how long she had been struggling. It could have been hours or days for all she knew. She didn't wonder too much about that. All she cared about was trying to get herself free. She concentrated and struggling, pulling on her legs and arms, both trying to escape and trying to make herself a more undesirable 'partner' of the red chalk.

So far, she couldn't really tell it was working. She did notice the glow of the red chalk slightly faded, but did this mean that the red chalk was letting go of her or did it mean that it was closer to possessing her? She felt a quick shiver of fear at the thought of being so close to being controlled this...this vile fiend... She couldn't think too much on that, though. At least she still had her mind, and while she had it, she continued on struggling.

Cornerstone was trying to stop her. It was taking her most of her strength, as well as limbs, to keep herself balanced on the poles and cuff chains. This made it harder for her to hold onto the girl's hand to keep the red chalk clutched inside of it. The snake zoner let out a few hisses of frustration and she kept on trying to reposition herself, trying to do whatever she could to keep herself hanging up here while trying to keep a hold on Penny.

But the girl's struggles were making it harder and harder for her to hang on. Penny was starting to wobble the poles a little. It wasn't enough to knock the poles out of the ground or anything. They, in a way, supported each other. But it was enough to make Cornerstone start to lose her grip. It was getting harder and harder for her to hang on. She let out a few low hisses of anger and frustration as she struggled to keep her claws encircled around grippage points she had designated for herself. She let out a warning hiss to Penny, but of course it was empty, since zoner venom could not harm a human.

Penny soon felt the reptilian zoner start to wobble further. She could hear her claws begin to scrape. Encouraged by this, Penny, a smirk on her face, began to thrust herself against the one side as hard as she could, the one she had leaned against when the zoner began to wobble. She kept doing this over and over again, hearing the creak of the poles increase slightly, watching as Cornerstone had increasing difficulty hanging on. Then with one more sharp thrust to that side, the snake zoner finally slipped and began to fall. Penny smiled in triumph at this.

But something else happened that she didn't expect. Instead of just Cornerstone falling down, so was she. She realized too late that the snake-like zoner still had a hold of her. The body weight of the zoner was causing her to be dragged down with her. Penny winced as she felt the chains tighten and pull in different directions as she was forced down towards the ground. She felt some flashes of pain, her ears aching from the loud snapping of metal, and soon she was on the ground, tumbling across it with Cornerstone in tow. The two of them rolled across the ground and soon came to a stop a few feet away.

Penny let out a groan as she pushed herself up. She noticed she had a few small bruises on her arms, along with a few cuts. She coughed a few times as she tried to get the dust out of her lungs. She smacked her lips a few times and let out another loud, grating cough. She turned her head over to see where Cornerstone was.

The snake beast was laying on her back, her mouth wide open and eyes closed. Penny noticed that her head was pressed against a corner of the room, the sharp point of the corner up against her skull. Penny couldn't help but flinch at this. Now that has got to hurt. It was clear Cornerstone was knocked out and probably would be for some time. Although having some sympathy for the zoner, Penny realized that her getting knocked out was definitely a good thing. This would give her time to get out of here.

But wait... wasn't she forgetting something...?

Penny looked behind her. She could see the red chalk all around her. It had all stopped glowing, but it still sparked menacingly. A part of her wondered if it was angry at her for trying to leave. The red chalk had no voice, and it wasn't moving, but she couldn't help but imagine the red chalk cursing at her, threatening her to stay put or else it would do something awful. She didn't need much imagination to know what the red chalk might try to do.

She looked down at her hand where she could see the red chalk still in her palm. It rested firmly, showing no signs of glowing or movement. Penny clenched her teeth tightly. She realized her problems had already started. To test it out, despite knowing what would happen, she held her hand out, palm down, and then she opened her hand up. Instead of the chalk dropping, it remained fused to her hand. She grabbed onto it and tried to dislodge it. But the chalk wouldn't budge. She noticed a few quick flashes from the red chalk nearby. It was almost as if it was laughing at her.

Penny shut her eyes tightly, trying to fight off the sense of dread and fear rising up inside of her. This was a difficult task, especially considering she knew the dangers of the red chalk. So long as it was stuck to her hand, it could make her draw anything it wanted to. It wasn't doing anything right now, but it was just a matter of time before it would try something, and if Rudy's stories were to be believed, there would be nothing she could do to stop it.

But she couldn't let herself be controlled by fear. Not now. Not while all this was going on. Not while Rudy and Snap were in danger. Not while that fiendish memotrice was still out there, along with Skrawl. Plotting, scheming, endangering ChalkZone... She had to try to stop them, regardless of the red chalk. It's what Rudy would have wanted her to do. If he were here in the same room as her, he would be telling her to be strong, fight the fear, and go try to stop Skrawl and Thoughtless.

She took in a deep breath and she sighed, trying to force herself to calm down a little. Her eyes clinched even tighter as many thoughts raced through her head. Although still afraid of the red chalk taking control of her at the worse possible moment, she wasn't about to let that slow her down. Opening her eyes up, she glared down the hallway that she had been brought in from. She felt the burning feeling of determination rise up inside of her. Taking a few more moments to prepare herself, she forced herself to begin walking down the hallway.

As she headed down, her thoughts went back to Rudy. She bit her lip, wondering how he was doing. She hoped that he was all right. She didn't really know what had happened to him or where he was being kept. She hoped that, wherever he was, that he was okay. If any of these creepazoids had done anything to him... She gritted her teeth tightly. She would make sure that they regretted whatever they did to him.

But for now, she concentrated on moving through her. Thankfully the Beanie Boys were gone and Skrawl was nowhere in sight, nor Thoughtless. She guessed that they had believed she wouldn't be able to get out of there and thought it was pointless to place a guard there. Well there was Cornerstone... But now that she was unconscious, there was no one that could stop Penny from getting out of here. She couldn't help but smirk slightly. Their overconfidence was going to get the best of them.

She suddenly wobbled, feeling a strange rush through her body. She leaned herself against the rocky wall, panting a few times. Just what was that feeling she just had? She licked her lips nervously as she struggled to fight against the odd feeling. It was a sensation similar to what she felt if she were a little tired and just woke up, only a bit more sickening to feel. She grabbed onto her head and gently rubbed it back and forth. It took a few seconds before the feeling disappeared completely.

She stood there for a few moments, her eyes wide, strugging to make sense of what had happened to her. The feeling had come and left as quickly as it came. She had never felt anything quite like it before. She looked down at the red chalk in her hand, but it wasn't glowing or even sparking, so that wasn't it. But then...what was going on...?

Penny shook her head, rubbing her forehead. She fought off the remaining sensation as she stared down the hallway once more. She couldn't let something like this distract her for very long. She needed to get moving. Taking one more look behind her, then at the red chalk, frowning, she continued on her way.

She failed to notice Cornerstone getting up. She felt to notice the snake beast looking in her direction. And she certainly didn't notice the piercing red eyes staring straight at her, murderous intent radiating from the crimson orbs.

sss

Skrawl tapped his claw against the desk impatiently. What was keeping those two? He had sent that Beanie Boy out to get them about twenty minutes ago. They should have been here by now. What was keeping them?

He gritted his teeth. He would expect this kind of tardiness from his lower ranking Beanie Boys. But from Delta and Snap? Those two should know better. They were among his best, even though Snap was very new here. He almost felt disappointed that he would have to dock off some points from them for messing up their punctuality.

Perhaps he should call for them again? Those two were rivals. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. Delta was upset that he appointed Snap as the new second-in-command. No doubt that those two were probably at each other's throat, arguing about who was the better in command. The thought of them wasting valuable time in such a way was enough to make him want to slap himself in the face. He sure hoped, for their sake, that those two weren't doing something that stupid and idiotic. Especially not during a time like now.

Before he had a chance to push in the button to call in another messenger boy, he could hear the sound of the doors opening. Moving his claw around from it, he looked over and he could see that, coming towards him, was Snap, and close behind him, Delta. Skrawl gave a small smile. Finally, they were here. He leaned back in his chair and watched as the two made their way towards him slowly.

"Greetings, Snap and Delta..." Skrawl spoke in a forcibly calm voice. He was struggling not to yell at them. He wanted to get on with business, not waste time scolding them. Despite their tardiness..well they were here, weren't they? "I'm so glad you could come..."

"We're sorry we're late." Snap said as he took a few steps towards the jellybean. He lowered his head, fumbling with his hands. "We were just talking and..."

"But we are ready now!" Delta moved further in front of Snap. He adopted a more dutiful posture, saluting Skrawl as he awaited orders. "Ready on your command, sir!"

Snap glared at Delta, and soon quickly joined in. He mimicked the Beanie Boy's postures almost exactly, although he had a bit of trouble. "Yeah!" He shot another glare at Delta, who simply smirked at him and folded his arms up in pride. Snap growled and then looked back at Skrawl.

Skrawl would of smiled at this bit of pitiful rivalry, but he had more important things to worry about. "You might be wondering why I called you here." Skrawl folded his arms behind his back. He tilted his head so that he could look up towards the ceiling. "I'm sure you two are aware, but I will reiterate for you, just to make sure we are all on the same page." He looked back at them. "We have both Rudy Tabootie and Penny Sanchez in our capture." He raised an eyebrow, narrowing the other. "I'm sure you are familiar with them." Turning his gaze slightly in Snap's direction, he added, "..some more than others..."

He watched as Snap growled at the mention of the names. He could see how the zoner shook, how he bared his teeth. It was clear that he was ready to tear into those two children. His eyes flashed at him, and Skrawl had to wonder if he was going to get permission to attack them or not. Well as amusing that would be, that's not what he had planned.

Besides, they already took care of one of the humans. Penny wouldn't need to be worried about. She was busy being sacrificed to the red chalk. Well... Thoughtless didn't say it was a sacrifice, but it sure seemed like it. The red chalk wanted a body, and in exchange, it would offer its services. Or at least, that's what Thoughtless claims. Considering its good services lately, Skrawl had little reason to doubt the reptilian bird. Skrawl had to admit, he was excited for this plan. He couldn't wait to have the red chalk by his side. It would be a force to be reckoned with.

But Rudy... Yes, they still needed to do something about Rudy. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to have him also sacrificed. As satisfying as it would be having Rudy be turned into nothing more than a mere slave drone, he would much rather do something else to him that would be longer and more...permanent.

Right now, the boy was already in a lot of pain. His right eye had been damaged. He wasn't sure if it was ripped out or not, but regardless, he couldn't see out of it right now. This already limited his drawing powers greatly. However, he still knew it would be dangerous to let him have any magic chalk. But this did give him a splendid idea. And he knew just who to choose to fullfill this new part of his plan. It would also work in two fold: it would teach Rudy a lesson and render him helpless, which in turn would protect the plan from being halted.

Skrawl let out a few chortles at the thought before he looked down at Snap and Delta. He could see their confused expressions, the way they were looking at him. It was understandable that they were confused; they didn't know what he was talking about. But as he opened his mouth, he needn't utter a single word for them to get excited about what came out of his mouth next.

"We are going to have a little fun with Master Tabootie."

At this, Snap gave a dark smirk. "Oh really?" He rubbed his hands together excitedly. "And what are we going to do with him?"

Sneering, Delta said, "I'd say we rip out his hair chunk by chunk and then we take a knife and scalp him."

Snap gave a quick shudder, but the smile never left his face. "Okay, I have to admit. That did sound pretty good." He forced a small smile on his face, giving Delta a sideways glance. The Beanie Boy nodded his head once, returning the smirk. Snap then turned his head to look back at Skrawl. "Is that what we are going to do?"

"As fun as that sounds, no." Skrawl shook his head. He could see the looks of disappointment in the two zoners. "But it will be just as fun.." He raised his claw up slowly, his smile growing wider and more twisted. "...perhaps even more so..."

"What is it?" Snap cried excitedly.

Delta joined in, "Yeah, don't leave us in the dark boss!" He moved in closer. "Tell us, what are we going to do?"

Skrawl paused for dramatic effect. He watched as the two zoners tried to pry information out of him. He listened to their desperate pleas for him to speak up, to continue, to not leave them in suspense for any longer. Skrawl purposely drew out the reveal, all just so he could watch these two squirm. All just to get them more excited for their new assignment. He knew neither of them would have any protests.

Skrawl reached behind him and grabbed a small object. He then tossed it towards the pair. Delta caught the object. He fumbled with it a bit, struggling to hand on. Soon he managed to hold onto it completely. He stared at it for a few moments, examining it. Snap looked at it, too, his eyes narrowed in curiosity and perplexion. The two of them looked back at him and they waited for him to explain their duties. When Skrawl felt they were ready, he delivered the order.

"I want you to blind Master Tabootie."


	24. Fun Time With A Friend

"Still no word on the children?" Mrs. Tabootie tentatively asked, looking at heer husband with worry.

The man shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"They haven't been searching for too long." Tilly said, raising a hand up in gesture. "Give them time. The police will figure out something."

Mrs. Tabootie looked over at her sister. She was glad that she could come over at a time like this, despite the hour. Tilly had gotten a babysitter for Sophie and came over to provide some emotional support, as well as help them figure out what might be going on. Although it might not be apparent to anyone who didn't know her, Tilly was pretty smart at thinking things through. As a child, she was always the one to solve problems. Perhaps she could help with this, too.

So far, Tilly hadn't been able to think of anything. She tried, but so far, she was just coming up with a blank. She needed more information. She needed more time. But she wasn't giving up just yet. Tilly had promised that, as soon as something came to mind, she would let them know right then.

Mrs. Tabootie found herself often looking at her sister during her stay. She didn't want to be rude and she felt embarrassed that she couldn't look away. She tried her best to keep her eyes averted. But she couldn't help herself. She felt that, at any second, Tilly would speak up. She felt the need to keep looking, to see if that mouth of hers opened up in speech. Even as she kept getting disappointed, she would still look over, still watch in hope and curiosity.

She could hear her husband let out a disgruntled sigh. She looked over at him, giving him a sympathetic look. He had been this way for a while, ever since he had come back from seeing Dr. Von Doktor. She remembered the look in his eyes when he came home, that almost brooding determination. He hadn't spoken too much, other than he was certain that Dr. Von Doktor was responsible. Mrs. Tabootie wasn't sure if she believed it. But she dare not say anything to her husband. He was mad enough already. She felt it was best to wait until evidence presented itself.

Surely, something would turn up, right?

"I sent them on the right trail..." Mr. Tabootie's voice was slightly embittered. He had stopped pacing and now he faced the window. "Why haven't they called and told me that they..."

"Dear, you know it takes time." Mrs. Tabootie tried to pacify her husband. She wasn't sure what luck she would have with him in this state, but she figured she'd give it a try. "Besides, there isn't enough evidence to link Dr. Von Doktor to..." She flinched when her husband turned to glare at her.

"Are you saying he's innocent?" Mr. Tabootie hissed.

Mr. Tabootie shook her head. "I'm just saying that the police might not feel obligued to search someone's home based on a hunch." She bit her lip. She leaned forward, gesturing her hand towards him. "Please, try to sit down and relax. The police will call if they find something. If they find any reason to suspect Dr. Von Doktor, then they will search his premises."

Mr. Tabootie glared at her for a few seconds, his eyes scrunching up a little more than usual. He turned away from her and continued staring out the window. He made no attempt to come towards the couch. Mrs. Tabootie sighed at this, but said nothing. If her husband didn't want to sit down, well she couldn't really change his mind. She leaned back against the couch and casted a glance over at Tilly.

Her sister shook her head slowly. "You aren't doing yourself any favors staring outside like that."

Mr. Tabootie scoffed at this. "You have a better idea? I don't see you coming up with anything."

Tilly blinked at this. Then she sighed. "Yes, I know. But your strategy isn't any better. You're just going to keep worrying yourself to death and that's not going to bring you any closer to finding your son. Please..." She raised her hand up, her eyes remaining locked on the man. "...please just...come sit down."

Mrs. Tabootie nodded her head in agreement. She gave a quick smile at Tilly, a silent 'thank you' for her attempting to help her. She then casted a worried glance over to her husband. "Please, Joe. Sit down with us. I know you're worried. So am I. But we need to try to relax and..."

"Relax?!" Mr. Tabootie whipped his head around so fast it was a blur. The glare he shot towards them was so intense, Mrs. Tabootie was surprised it didn't set anything on fire. "How can any of us relax when our son is missing?!"

Mrs. Tabootie pulled her head back, staring at her husband with wide eyes. She exchanged glances with Tilly. Realizing that she might have gone a little too far, she looked over at him, soft eyes meeting narrowed hardened ones, and she said, "Sorry, Joe. I didn't mean it like that. I just...I just don't want to see you fall apart..." She closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Please..just don't... We need each other to be strong on this and you..." Her voice trailed off. She couldn't speak anymore.

"It is okay to worry. I am not saying that was wrong. I just don't want you to get so worked up that you end up making yourself sick." Tilly used the gentlest tone of voice she could muster up. She tried her best to look non-judgmental and non-confrontational, even keeping her eyes somewhat averted so it didn't look like a challenge. "Your wife needs you right now. And you need yourself. Please...try not to lose control."

Silence fell upon the room. Mr. Tabootie didn't say anything. He just looked at them. The two women stared back, keeping their mouths tightly shut. Their faces were plastered with a mixture of worry and uncertainty and sympathy. None of them had any idea of what to expect. Mr. Tabootie's angered expression hadn't gone away, and the way his eyes were widening and pupils shrinking, the two women both feared that he was going to snap.

But so far, he remained silent. He did shake a little in emotion, but he hadn't attempted to bite their heads off or anything. He was just...staring at them. At first, this was kind of okay, as the two women thought this meant that he would soon come to his senses. But the longer this went on, the more unnerved they got. Only a few moments had passed, but it felt like hours. And as the man kept staring at them, it felt like the air around them was getting thicker and stickier, almost as if Mr. Tabootie's anger was spreading even through the air.

Then at last, Mr. Tabootie finally moved. He raised his shoulders up, sucking in a long, slow breath, his nostrils flaring outward. Mrs. Tabootie looked at him, her own eyes growing in size. She clenched her teeth tightly and waited for her husband to blow his top...

...but then he exhaled and his shoulders slumped. The frown all but disappeared as his mouth hung open almost in exhaustion. He lowered his head, staring at the ground with half open eyes. He took in a few slow breaths, remaining silent for a few moments. Mrs. Tabootie and Tilly watched this in confusion. They still braced themselves just in case the man went back to how he was before. But as soon as he spoke, they realized that they didn't have to worry about that.

"...I'm sorry." Mr. Tabootie spoke. "I...I didn't mean to, I..." He shook his head slowly. "I just want Rudy to be safe..."

"Oh Joe.."

Mrs. Tabootie got up from the couch. She paused for a moment, watching her husband up and down warily, wondering if he was going to flip back any second. When he just kept looking at her sadly, any signs of anger gone, she approached him slowly. When she reached him, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. Mr. Tabootie stiffened up a little at her touch, but he soon leaned himself against her, his arms slinking around her large form.

"It's going to be okay... You'll see..." Mrs. Tabootie whispered to her husband. This felt like a role reversal. It's usually her doing all the worrying and her husband trying to help her calm down. "The police will find something. I'm sure of it..."

"I know, Millie. I know they will find something eventually.." Mr. Tabootie told her.

Mrs. Tabootie smiled at this. "That's the spirit, Joe."

Mr. Tabootie let out a worried sigh. "But...it's that 'eventually' thing that worries me." Mrs. Tabootie pulled back and stared into his worried eyes. "What if he doesn't get found until...until..." He bit his lip. The faintest hint of tears came to his eyes.

"Joe...please...don't think like that..." Mrs. Tabootie pulled him into another hug. She rubbed her cheek against his face. "Please.. It will be all right..."

Mrs. Tabootie didn't want to think the possibility of Rudy being found too late. She didn't want to think that the next thing she saw her son, it would be in a morgue or in a grave. He was..too young for that. He was way too young... He didn't deserve that to happen to him. She didn't want to haunt her mind with the image of her dead son being presented to her. It...It was going to be all right. She wanted to believe it would.

She continued to hold onto her husband, gently rubbing his back. He was crying softly. Not too heavily, but she could feel him shaking a little and she could feel the tears staining her shirt now. The man had been doing a good job with holding it in, with trying to look strong for her. But now he was letting loose, releasing the emotion he had packed away before. A part of her wondered if at least some of this was from when he had struck Rudy. He still hadn't quite gotten over that.

She whispered soft, comforting words to him. She didn't let go, not willing to leave his side. She could feel him slowly start to relax in her arms and she found herself leaning back a little to support part of his weight. After a while, she began to lead him back towards the cough slowly. She helped him sit down on the couch between her and her sister. The two women huddled close to him, providing emotional support for the man.

They were all thinking the same thing. They were all hoping that something would turn up soon. They had lost almost all track of time, and no longer remembered how much passed. All they could do was stare at the phone and wait for someone to call. But they also tried their best to keep their spirits up. Even if no one calls tonight, surely someone soon would.

They nearly jumped when they heard the door start to open. Mr. Tabootie immediately thought it was the phone and he practically lunged towards it. He fumbled with the receiver and kept calling out 'hellos'. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was the door. Smiling sheepishly, he placed the phone shakingly down and he and the women watched as Mrs. Sanchez came walking in.

Mrs. Tabootie immediately got up and went to greet her friend. "I'm so glad you could make it!"

Mrs. Sanchez nodded her head, sharing the sentiment. "I think it's better to worry together than to worry alone, right?"

Mrs. Tabootie couldn't argue with that logic. At least together, they had each other to cheer one another up and keep themselves from falling into too much despair. It wasn't perfect; her husband nearly lost it. But she knew that he would have been even worse if he were alone. Yes, it really was better to be together.

She guided Mrs. Sanchez over towards the couch. She let her sit down next to her, at the very edge. Soon the couch was occupied by four worrying folks, all of them parents. They went dead silent for several minutes, listening to each other breathing, giving each other understanding, worried looks. They placed their hands against each other as a way of reminding themselves that they weren't alone, that they were in this together. Somehow they knew...they just knew...they were going to get through this.

But exactly how or when, they didn't know. And there was still a chance that... No, they had to try to remain hopeful. There was still a chance. And so long as there was still a chance, they weren't going to give up.

That was how their children would have wanted them to be.

It was Mrs. Sanchez who finally broke the silence.

"So...how have the cameras worked for you?" She asked in a soft, tentative voice. She must have seen the look in Mr. Tabootie's eyes and she had quickly realized she was already treading on thin territory. She paused when she saw him shudder. She forced herself to continue. "I...haven't seen anything. Yet."

"Neither have we." Mrs. Tabootie took it upon herself to reply. She could tell that her husband was in no mood for a speach. "But it hasn't been that long..." She struggled to remain positive. "I'm...sure something will turn up soon."

"Yeah." Tilly nodded her head. "We just need to wait."

Mrs. Sanchez seemed to agree, but then she looked away from them. She stared out into the distance, a faraway look in her eyes. Mrs. Tabootie couldn't help but feel her heart clench at this. She had seen her friend give this expression before and it was hardly a good thing. It meant that she had thought of something important. Something serious.

Something...dangerous.

"...Inez...?" Mrs. Tabootie whispered in a low voice. She watched as the vet stared over at her, that somewhat vacant look still in her eyes. "...what is going on...? Why are you looking at us like that...?"

She, Tilly, and Mr. Tabootie locked yes with the woman. Mrs. Sanchez looked back at them, staring at them with great sympathy and something that was almost like fear. They remained in this deadlock stare for a few moments, the long, dead silence gripping them, tearing them apart on the inside. Soon Mrs. Sanchez curled her lip up enough to briefly show her teeth, and then she looked away from them. The lack of a response was unnerving.

Just...what was going on here..?

sss

Thoughtless wondered how everything was progressing. It hadn't really heard the results yet, but then again, it didn't really know how long it should wait. It didn't know how long it would take for the red chalk to take to the girl, or if they would even accept her. If it had tried with Rudy, perhaps the red chalk would have been more...eager.

But even then, it might still have taken time. There were no records of how long the red chalk would take, and this was more of an experimental phase. It wasn't entirely sure if what it read was correct. It seemed unbelievable and it had no idea how it could have worked. It hoped that by giving Penny to the red chalk, it would be able to find out for itself.

There was a chance that it was a bust. But...no, it didn't think so. Everything else seemed so professionally written. It was a book of records of course. Why would they put something that hadn't actually happened in some shape or form in the book? It would think that the stories would be checked out and scrutinized to make sure that they were as accurate as could be. Or perhaps it was just giving them way too much credit and perhaps this book had a bunch of lies written in it.

No matter. It wouldn't be too hard to separate the truth from the lies. It would be able to quickly learn if this book spoke the truth about the red chalk's origins. All it needed to do was wait and see what would happen to Penny if she were forced to stay with the red chalk long enough. Of course, she may not survive the procedure...but eh, it could live with that. It could always then turn to Rudy Tabootie, whom had recently arrived, if it wanted to do something else in regards to the red chalk.

Thoughtless was glad that Skrawl was able to act so quickly. It didn't think that Skrawl could get Rudy here so fast, but it had been proven wrong. As soon as Skrawl had reported to him that the task was taken care of, it couldn't help but feel a sense of delightment. That was quite an impressive feat for Skrawl. It would have thought that it would take longer than that. Perhaps it didn't give that jellybean enough credit.

It paused at this. It remembered how Skrawl had confronted it before. Skrawl had realized something was wrong with it and went to challenge it. Thoughtless hadn't yet learned of how Skrawl got suspicious in the first place. It had its ideas, but nothing absolute.

It narrowed its eyes. It would need to figure out just how the jellybean learned of this, and it would need to do something about it. It needed someway to rectify this situation before a repeate occurred anytime soon. It was vital that it kept things under control. It couldn't have another incident like that happen again. It had been lucky it was able to act and 'tame' Skrawl before the jellybean had a chance to rip it apart. Despite its powers, it knew that all it would take was one well aimed blow and it would be down for the count. It was not immune to physical attacks.

But at least it was able to stop him before it was too late. Well, at least for now. It didn't want to count its lucky stars just yet. Skrawl might have another incident ike that. It might break out of its spell and come back after him. So in the meantime, while it waited for any word on Penny's... 'condition', it would need do some memory investigation and figure out just who had planted it it in Skrawl's mind that it was up to something.

It felt stupid for not looking hard enough before. It had been so worried about covering up its tracks that it failed to look for any sign of whoever had caused the suspicion in the first place. Or the thing; it might have been something unrelated to any zoner. It hoped not; that would be harder to take care of. Then again...it wasn't like this was going to be easy, either.

Then there was Biclops...

It had rewritten that giant's memories so deeply, but it couldn't help but fear this zoner. It never showed it before. It didn't even realize it itself until later. But Biclops just seemed...special in some way. It didn't really fully understand why. Even searching through his memories didn't yield the answer that it had hoped for. It couldn't help but wonder if Biclops could fight against its powers somehow, despite being a memory-based zoner. This didn't seem possible. After all, its powers were strongest against memory-based zoners like Biclops.

And yet... There was just something different about this giant. Something that made him special. It wondered if there was another part of him that it wasn't aware of. Perhaps something in his creation, or in a part of his life that it did not see. It gritted its beak. It had taken all the time in the world to corrupt the giant, but it never thought to look at his past more? Now that was pretty sad.

It did give Skrawl permission to hurt the giant. It had found a sliver of red geomite and it was painful to the touch. It was amazed Skrawl could handle it without hurting himself. It actually had no idea if it would kill Biclops or just slow him down. It hoped that it killed the giant. Despite being curious about how the giant might be able to overcome its powers, it would much rather the giant be dead so it would no longer have to worry about him. A dead enemy was a good enemy.

There was a change that Biclops was alive. And if he was alive, then he might remember how Skrawl had attacked him. He might piece the puzzle together quickly and he might realize that he had been used. The attempted attack would so easily backfire on them, something that Thoughtless dreaded. And it couldn't help but ask itself a question.

What if Biclops flipped the tables on it? After all, was it not a memoy-based zoner as well?

But in the end, after all was said and done, it knew that this was going to be worth it. This was all going to culminate in something grand, something great. It could feel its chest swelling up in pride. It couldn't wait to see what all its work was going to lead up to. It still needed to be careful and take light steps. It still needed to keep reading, keep learning. It still need to show the patience of a saint, but in the end, it would all be so worth it.

After all, shouldn't everyone experience life?

sss

As his vision opened up, everything was a blur. Fuzzy and distorted. He could see some shadows and plenty of lights. Color slowly seeped in. He soon saw images of blue and green. He couldn't really make any sense of them. He wasn't able to tell what they represented, just that they were there, and they were rapidly filling his vision. A headache spread throughout his head, which was making his vision even worse. Every so often, his head almost seemed to pulse, which wobbled the image slightly as if something big was walking towards him.

It took several moments for him, but his vision did eventually start to clear. He felt strength slowly return to his aching body. He slowly crawled up from the ground. He leaned against some large rocks, trying to support himself. His hand rested against his head as he let out a groan. He blinked his eyes a few times and his vision did eventually sharpen.

His head was still swimming. He felt so lightheaded and dizzy. He struggled to keep his eyes open, struggled to stay awake. He blinked a few times, his vision slightly blurring again. He shook his head, trying to clear it. It didn't seem to work too well. If anything, it almost seemed to be making it worse. Though exactly why, he wasn't sure. Heck, he didn't even remember what happened. Just that he woke up feeling so sore and painful.

Just what had happened? The last thing he recalled was standing outside, greeting someone and then...bam, this. Even in his confused mind, he knew that waking up like this just wasn't normal. Something was really wrong. But what would cause him to wake up like this? Just what could have happened that led up to this? Did that person who visited him have anything to do with it? Yeah...that was a possibility. Yeah, something about that guy wrong so many wrong bells in his head. A red flag had risen up, and his subconscious was screaming at him 'danger, get away'.

But for now, Biclops couldn't do anything just yet. He needed some time to relax and recover. He didn't have the strength to move. It felt as if almost every pore on his body had been shocked by something. He could feel a dull ache almost everywhere, and a few times, he had to flinch and clench his teeth. He couldn't even register much fear yet; his mind hadn't yet fully woken up. He knew he should be afraid, but he was too groggy to even think of it feeling it yet.

It took some time before his mind began to remember some of the details. He rested himself on the ground, his legs out in front of him, as he allowed the memories to flow through him, filling in the blanks of his mind. He shut his eyes, allowing them to move in front of his mind's eye, watching them carefully. The images seemed strange at first, but the more he watched them, the more familiar they started to get. Shapes were coming into view, their appearance coming into focus. He waited and watched, allowing everything to come into the fold.

Yes, he remembered this now. Skrawl... It had been Skrawl. Was he an enemy? Part of his mind was telling him yes, but another was saying something different. He was left with conflicting signals, which worsened his headache. He tried not to think about Skrawl's loyalties and just allowed the scene to play before him.

He could see Skrawl's mouth moving, but for some reason, the words just weren't coming. It was as if his memory had been muted. Try as he might, he could not hear the words. But he could see what was going on. It seemed as though Skrawl wanted something from him. Something important. What was it? It couldn't possibly have been magic chalk, right? Skrawl would have no used for that. But there was something else he knew Skrawl wanted, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was on the tip of his tongue, yet he was not able to spit it out.

It was a person.. Yes, it was someone. But whom could it be? Didn't he live alone? Yes, he did. Then who... A visitor maybe? No, why would Skrawl be interested in that? A prisoner? He didn't have prisoners and... wait, he remembered something about a prisoner. Yeah, it was starting to come back to him.

Rudy Tabootie...

But why would he have the Great Creator prisoner? It didn't make any sense. Didn't Rudy protect ChalkZone? Or perhaps he was a traitor and... Yeah, he remembered now. Something about how Rudy wasn't trustworthy. Or...was that it? A part of his mind was telling him that Rudy was still an ally, but...he wasn't sure he should listen to it. The giant rubbed his head, trying to soothe his massive headache.

He decided it was best to just push aside the thoughts for now. His mind was too muddled to decide if Rudy was an enemy or an ally. When he would wake up more, he would think more on that and decide. For now, he allowed his memory to keep flowing, unlocking more of what happened.

He remembered Skrawl took out something long, red, and sharp. He remembered those specific details. And he remembered that Skrawl had chucked it and...

In that moment, the giant felt a shockwave of pain shoot through his leg. He let out a scream and immediately clutched his leg to himself, seething through his clenched teeth as he struggled to keep himself from screaming. His leg felt almost as if it were swelling up, threatening to burst open and spill his blood everywhere. He could practically feel the pulsating echoing and rumbling through his leg. It took a lot of concentration for him to try to will this pulsing down, but even then, he could feel it ripping through him.

The pain.. He couldn't believe how intense that had been. Short, but that was some of the worst pain he's ever felt. It was like someone took a blender and stuck it inside his leg and just let it run. He wouldn't be surprised if his leg popped up and the disgusting, slushified material would spill out all over the ground.

It was then that he realized that Skrawl couldn't be an ally then. Why would an ally hurt another ally? And another thing that didn't make sense. If they were allies, why would Skrawl forcibly take Rudy, if Rudy was the bad guy? Why wouldn't he just simply ask for the boy? And why would he himself resist? Biclops was certain that he remembered being angry at Rudy, and yet he could not remember being willing to just hand over the boy. Was he worried about something or was there something else going on?

And why did he remember having some fear for Rudy? It was fleeting and he nearly missed it. But he clearly remembered being a little afraid of what was in store for Rudy. This conflicted with his earlier thoughts of hatred towards the boy. It intensified his headache, causing him to clutch it and struggle to deal with the confusing thoughts. It ripped through his body, spreading down his shoulders and arms, and settled deep in his stomach, making him feel sick.

Something wasn't right here. There was something very wrong. He needed to do something about it and fast. So many red flags were raising up, and so much confusion was gripping him. He had never felt this confused before in his life. It was as if he had been gripped in amnesia for most of his life and he was only just now starting to get his memories back. Even the ones about Rudy and Skrawl felt..so far away.

There was something else that came to his mind. He had images of this strange bird-like creature. He couldn't quite remember what it was, but its appearance seemed really important. As if it played some huge role. Biclops could feel himself being drawn to the image of the bird. There was something...both fascinating and horrifying about it. Just what significance did this bird have? He thought as hard as he could, trying to think of what possible role it had played in his recent past. There had to be something that...

The memotrice.

Biclops found himself looking left and right when that name popped into his head. It sounded almost as if someone had spoken that into his head, whispering it as a reminder. That name, memotrice, it did sound very familiar. Yeah, that's what the creature was called. The memotrice.

But what significance did this thing have to him? What important part did it play in his past? Was it the one that had warned him about Rudy? That part seemed familiar. But he also remembered something about struggling and screaming and something this thing was doing and...

Biclops clutched his head tightly, seething through clenched teeth. He struggled to keep himself from worsening his own headache. Yet he was not able to stop the compounding thoughts from rushing through him, gripping him tightly, twisting his gut. He was becoming victim of two contradictory points of views and he wasn't certain which one was accurate and which one was not. It was like he was being pressed between two sandich halves, both sides pining for his attention. He felt himself being ripped apart internally, and his mind ached from struggling to figure out just which side he should listen to.

All the while, the pain in his leg was getting worse. The more he struggled to figure this out, the more pain spread through the limb. It increased in intensity as time passed, which only confounded his mind even more, making it harder and harder for him to concentrate. He found himself nearly keeling over, his body being assaulted both physically and mentally. Just which side was the correct one?

Soon he slumped over, pressing himself against his good leg, gripping his bad one. He looked down at it, seeing that the red sliver was not in there anymore, although he was aware of something sparkly and read spreading through it. He flinched at the sight of this, as well as the horrified swelling and the pus seeping out. It was enough to knock his mind off the confusing subject for a few moments. The next couple of seconds, he was just looking at his leg, realizing just how bad it really was.

But soon his mind turned to the confusing topic of Rudy, even in spite of this causing an increased pain in his leg. He tried his best to remain calm and collected and he tried to think of why these views were so confusing. How was he going to figure out how to clear this up?

The memotrice reentered his mind, as did Skrawl. He knew they would hold the answers to the truth. Perhaps if he went to them, if he located them, he would be able to talk to them and figure out what happened. He wasn't sure if they would be willing to tell him, and he had a feeling that Skrawl would struggle to keep silent. But..he just had to talk to someone about this. If neither of them wanted to speak, then he'd find some way to make them talk. He was not going to take no for an answer.

Wincing, he climbed up to his feet, taking tentative steps to make sure he didn't cause a stronger bout of pain in his leg. He felt a sharp pain and he seethed, stumbling forward before he was able to regain his posture. Once he balanced himself, he shook his head and he looked out into the horizon. Choosing one particular direction that just felt right to him, he began to lumber through.

sss

"N-No... wait...please! D-Don't do this.." Rudy pleaded.

"Too late for apologies, Bucko." Snap hissed at him, his eyes narrowed in contempt. "You should have thought about that before you backstabbed me."

"But I didn't do that!" Rudy twisted himself from one side to the other. He was desperately trying to escape the grasp of Delta, but the Beanie Boy was holding him tightly. "I swear! You've got to believe me! I..."

Snap's snarl cut him off. The boy gave a quick shudder at this, staring at Snap in fear. "I've had enough of your lies. I know what I remember. Do you think I would make something like this up?"

Rudy shook his head. "Well no..."

Snap gave a bitter smile at this. "Well that's good. At least you're learning."

"But.." Rudy started to say.

Snap's frown returned. "But what?"

"But... But I still didn't do it. I don't... remember doing any of that..." Rudy whispered softly, his head hanging low. He averted his gaze from both Snap and Delta, his left eye closed, his right eye still crusted shut from the slash wound. "I'm telling the truth.. I don't remember doing that.. I'm certain I didn't. But I..." He fell silent after that. It was as if he had run out of gas.

Snap frowned at this. He didn't take his eyes off of Rudy. He watched as the boy remained slumped forward, with only Delta's grippage of his arms being the reason why he wasn't falling forward. He could see the confusion and uncertainty written in Rudy's face. Such a good actor... Snap had to almost admire how much Rudy was trying to pretend like he didn't do anything. It was still a sickening act, but at the same time, one must be impressed with how long he was keeping it up.

But he was getting tired of this little game. He had tolerated Rudy pretending not to know for far too long, and now that he was starting to weaken, perhaps he could finally shatter this facade and force him to face the reality he had given himself. Without further words, he took a few steps towards Rudy. Delta held the boy still to ensure that he didn't get away.

Soon, the blue and white zoner stood in front of him. Rudy's gaze was still down to the ground. He could see that the expression was mixed, but mostly fear shined in that left eye of his. Slowly, Rudy looked up at him, letting Snap see a better view of them. The sight of those tear stains was almost amusing enough to make him laugh. How fitting that Rudy would look at him the same way he did when he and Penny had started to torture him. It was only fair that Rudy get to experience a fraction of that horror.

"So..you really don't remember?" Snap tilted his head to one side. His narrowed eyes locked with Rudy's, trapping them in his gaze. The boy looked as if he wanted to turn away, but he found it impossible. "Are you sure you don't remember? Or are you just lying to me?"

"I..I don't remember. I..." Rudy paused for a moment. He looked left and right. "A-At least..I don't think I do.. Maybe the memotrice did something... Made me forget..." Rudy's eyes filled with horror at this. "Maybe I did..." He sighed and lowered his head further. "I don't know... I really don't know..."

"I see..." Snap paused for a moment to consider. He had his doubts that Thoughtless played a hand in this. He had a feeling that Rudy was making it up to try to shift the blame. Such a disgusting thing... But it did seem like the tides were turning this time, and he pressed on. "Perhaps you did a lot more horrible things that you just don't remember. I wonder how many zoners you tortured before you were struck with amnesia as you claim."

Rudy stared at him with a horrified expression. His breathing came in quicker and deeper. "I-I..."

Snap smiled at this. "Yeah. Maybe you even killed some zoners too."

"No..I-I wouldn't..." Rudy shook his head in denial, a hint of tears in his eyes. "Please..I wouldn't..."

Snap's smile spread further, growing slightly twisted. "Oh but we don't know, now do we? We don't remember everything. That is a fact. But our strongest memories.. They are the trickiest of all. Sometimes they stick and sometimes they leave us." He tilted his head to one side. "And for you, it's both." Rudy's eyes widened. "I can see it in your eyes, Bucko. You do feel a torrent of guilt for what you did to me. You just don't want to remember..."

Rudy shivered at this. He tried harder to get away from Delta's grip. The Beanie Boy had remained silent the whole time, a request by Snap. The Beanie Boy grudgingly listened as he was of a lower rank than him. Snap didn't want him to ruin the moment. This was simply between him and Rudy. And watching his trembling reaction, he was glad that he was alone to enjoy it.

He could feel some of the memories coming into his head. He could feel his blood heating up as he remembered what Rudy had done to him. He remembered the sharp needles and the pain and the horror and the blood. He clenched a fist tightly, his eyes clinched and teeth gritted, as he struggled to cope with those terrifying memories. And the way Rudy had looked at him, with that hideous smile and glinting eyes and sick, morbid curiosity... He reopened his eyes and glared daggers in Rudy's direction.

"But you do remember, don't you, Bucko?" He spat at him, his voice laced in venom. "You remember all that you had done. You remember my pleas for mercy. You remember how you had cut me open. You remember how my blood had spilled the ground... And yet here you are, acting like you don't... But I think you do.."

Snap gave Rudy a dark, twisted smile as he leaned towards him. His face was close to his, white eyes locking onto green. His smiling, infuriated look bore through his terrified one. Rudy looked like he wanted to speak, but his voice was stammered and slurred. This caused Snap's smile to spread further.

"Oh yes..I am sure you remember..." He tilted his head. "Don't you? Try to think real hard. Maybe my screams in your head will jog your memory..."

"I don't know...I..I think... I really don't know..." Rudy stammered.

Snap gave a bitter chuckle at this. "Still playing this little game? Oh Rudy.." He shook his head slowly. "I thought that we were done with this. I thought you would have finally confessed..." He held his head steady, his smile fading slightly. "But I still see that we need a proper..reminder for you.."

He exchanged a grin with Delta. The Beanie Boy, despite needing to be silent, smiled back at him eagerly. Rudy's own face was the portrait of horror and fear. He began to struggle harder, hoping to get away from them. But all that happened was that Delta, upon hand motion from Snap, shoved him into the ground. Rudy yelped and Snap wondered if he had bitten his tongue.

Snap smirked down at Rudy. He knew that Skrawl had only wanted him and Delta to blind him, which would be fun enough itself. But he wanted to have a little more fun with Rudy. His drive for revenge was compelling him to do so. He couldn't just leave it at blinding. He wanted to toy with him a little while longer. And what better way than to force the brat down the memory lane he pretended didn't exist?

"How about I..." Snap held up the small knife that Skrawl had given him. It was a pocket knife that slide in and out easily, and it also had a few other blades situated there of varying lengths and types. Some were more serrated while others looked stronger, almost as if they could scrape off bone. "..help you remember..?"

Rudy's eye was wide in terror. He jerked himself from side to side. "N-No..please..."

Snap ignored him. He felt his body burning and shaking as he continued to remember what this human boy had done to him. He also felt a wave of excitement. Now, finally, he was getting to do something back at him. Something better than just merely shooting him and knocking him down those pipes. Something that would truly be an eye for an eye.

He motioned for Delta to keep him still. The Beanie Boy did his best to use his body to prevent Rudy from getting away. Once Snap was satisfied that Rudy could not escape, he knelt down in front of him. He grabbed onto Rudy's left wrist and pressed it down so that it was palm facing up. Snap smiled down at the flesh located on the boy's hand. This smile slowly dissipated into anger as he remembered what this hand was capable of doing.

"S-Snap.."

The blue zoner ignored this. He continued to glare at the palm, his teeth gritting. He slowly began to raise the knife up. Already he could anticipate the sight of blood drenching the ground.

"Please...don't..." Rudy whimpered, his body shaking. "No! Don't!"

It took only seconds for Snap to slash the knife across the center of Rudy's palm. He could hear the boy let out a scream at this, his body tensing up. Rudy's cries of pain filled his eyes, giving him a strong sense of satifaction. He kept his eyes on the hand, watching the blood flow from the quick yet deep cut he had given him. Even the fingers trembled.

Snap lifted up his head and smiled at Rudy. He watched as the boy squirmed on the ground, struggling to get away from the pain. Such a beautiful sight to see, especially when he himself was not on the recieving end. He could almost see Rudy's mind filling with thoughts. A part of him wondered if Rudy would dare deny the truth still after this. He had a feeling that it would, but in the moment, it didn't matter. The fact that he was screaming was providing enough satisfaction for him right now.

But he wasn't done yet. No, he needed to do more. He needed to make sure that this brat never used the magic chalk against him again. He needed to cause more damage to this hideous, disgusting hand. He bared his teeth and clutched the knife tighter. Despite knowing that it would dull in blood, he did not care. He raised it up again to strike.

"No! No! Please! Stop this! Please!"

Once again, Snap ignored him and he plunged the knife deep into Rudy's palm. The boy let out an echoing screech of pain at this. His voice bounced off the walls of this dome room, intensifying the sound. Delta flinched at it, but Snap ignored it. He glared down at Rudy with a cold expression, uncaring of the pleading look Rudy gave him, simply returning it with a snarl, curled up lip.

For the next few moments, no one said a word. The only sound that could be hard was Rudy's crying and whimpering, his eyes shining with the question of 'why', that same word repeated under Rudy's breath a few times. He was staring down at his hand, his eyes going over the damage, his fingers trying to flex. The internal damage caused by the attack was enough to keep his fingers from bending in all the way, pain stopping him. Rudy shut his eyes and allowed the tears to flow.

All the while, Snap watched this with a cold expression. He didn't even smile in satisfaction, despite feeling it coursing through his body. His anger towards this boy was too strong right now, and he was trying his best not to lose all control. It was too easy to want to stab Rudy in more places, and the only thing preventing him from doing that was the reminder that all Skrawl wanted done to him was the blinding.

As he listened to Rudy cry his cruel little heart out, Snap felt the smile and glee returning to his face. He could feel some of the anger melting away, flushing through his body like someone had pulled the drain. He could feel himself rapidly cooling down, and the temptation to strike Rudy's hand again went away. He smirked in satisfaction at the bloodied hand, now rendered useless. Even if Rudy were to find a piece of magic chalk, it would be useless to him now. And as he stared into Rudy's terrified left eye, noticing the deep gash in his right, still crusted red, he knew that Rudy realized this as well. Especially considering his right hand was also damaged from an earlier event.

"I think we delayed this long enough." Snap finally spoke after several minutes of silence, his voice cutting over Rudy's pathetic whimpering. Noticing Rudy's expression, he smiled. "Oh no, if you thought I was done with you, think again, Rudy. I am not finished. You see, Skrawl gave me a very specific instruction."

"Wh-What are you going to d-d-do...?" Rudy whimpered as he pulled his head back away from him.

Snap sneered and leaned himself forward, putting his face close to Rudy's. He didn't answer him straight away. Instead, he just looked at Rudy's left eye intently, seeing how it glistened in tears. "Eyes are so..delicate..." He reached over and he placed his hand against Rudy's cheek. "I wonder what would happen if I placed this here..."

Rudy's eye bulged as he realized what was going to happen. He let out a terrified scream and struggled frantically get free. He kept moving his head from one side to the other, trying to force Snap to let go of him. Snap gritted his teeth at this. He struggled to try to hold onto Rudy, but even with Delta's help, the boy's fear was overflowing, giving him more adrenaline, more strength to fight back.

Working together, they were eventually able to secure him down. Rudy didn't speak; he just kept letting out shouts and screams, his heart practically echoing inside his chest. The fear of losing his sight was strong; he knew how vulnerable he was going to be without it. All the more reason why it should be done. And as he prepared one of the knife's curling blades to strike, he made sure that Rudy knew this as well.

"You made me feel helpess. It is only fair that you get to experience this as well." Snap sneered at him. He listened to Rudy's low cries and his panicked breathing. He could see that he was still struggling, his legs still kicking out in desperation. "I wonder how will you'll be able to draw now, Bucko..." Snap hissed through clenched teeth. "Would you be able to create anymore of your shitty drawings to hurt me with? I do have to wonder that... Why don't we find out?"

Rudy took in several quick breaths, his left pupil locked onto Snap. "P-Please! D-Don't do this! I-I'll do anything! Just please...let me go!"

Snap chuckled at this. He looked down at the twisted knife running his hand over it. "It won't be all bad... At least you will have another cut to match mine." He motioned towards the scar that still adorned his eyes. "Remember this?"

Rudy stared at it for a few seconds. He soon shook his head. Snap narrowed his eyes at this.

"Wrong answer."

"But..."

Snap slammed his arm against Rudy's head, causing the boy to cry out. "Shush!" He hissed at him. "And hold still! Let's get this over with." With that, he began to move the knife towards the frightened boy's head.

Rudy's struggles increased. It was as if he was injected with a syrum of energy. He thrashed on the ground wildly, yanking his legs and pulling his arms. It was becoming harder and harder for them to hold him still. Despite the difficulty, Snap and Delta did their best to hold him still so the task could be done. Snap struggled to hold onto Rudy's hair and he positioned the knife to his eye. This only seemed to increase Rudy's terror and strength to try to escape.

Soon one of his legs managed to break free. Pulling it back, Rudy struck it against Delta. The Beanie Boy was thrown back. He hit the nearby wall and soon clutched his stomach tightly. With his legs free, Rudy scrambled up to his feet. He moved forward, and Snap found himself being pushed backwards. Rudy rammed him against the wall. Snap hissed as he felt the knife knick him a little. He yanked his arm upwards, aiming it down at Rudy. His left eye wide, Rudy grabbed Snap and he threw him in Delta's direction. The two collided together.

At that point, Snap had lost track of what was going on. He could faintly hear Rudy's footsteps, but he couldn't tell where he was going or if he was getting closer or further away. The only thing he was aware of for sure was the look in Delta's eyes. Wide open and almost blank, a tint of shock in them. Snap was then familiar with something warm and sticky staining his shirt. He took in a few slow breaths as everything came into focus, and he took a small step back to look at what happened.

He couldn't help but gasp when he saw the blood on Delta's belly. He couldn't see exactly where it was coming from. There was just too much red everywhere. So much red, almost like an invasion on the Beanie Boy's body. And that breathing..so horrid and scratchy, as if he was sucking on non-existent air.

The Beanie Boy locked eyes with him, any sign of anger or hate towards him gone, replaced with shock and horror. He seemed to try to speak, only for blood to leak out of the corner of his mouth. Snap found it difficult to look away. It was as if those eyes held the power of captivity, pulling his own to keep looking. Snap thought of trying to speak, to ask him what was wrong, but all he could do was stare at him with an open mouth. Then the Beanie Boy slumped forward and fell into the ground and all went silent.

sss

So far, nothing out of the ordinary happened, nor did she run into any enemies. The hallway was eerie, yes, and she shuddered as she continued to feel some of the red chalk's presence even here. But at least there were no enemies to try to strap her, which was definitely good. Penny wasn't sure how well she could defend herself in this one-way hallway. There was literally no place for her to hide here.

The red chalk in her hand had gone quiet. She wasn't sure how much she could relax, knowing that it could activate itself at any time. Then again, didn't Rudy mention something about how he had drawn a few things first before the red chalk activated? Perhaps the red chalk needed to be used first before it could start to gain control of bodily movements. Penny wasn't certain and she wasn't really in the mood to try to test this out. Not while she was here in enemy territory. So she opted to just hold the red chalk still and not use it.

She continued to make her way down the hallway slowly, constantly looking left and right, looking for any sign of danger. At any moment, the Beanie Boys could come in and stop her. Who know how long it would be before they would realize she was gone. For now, she used this opportunity to continue putting space between her and that horrible room she had been placed in earlier.

She suddenly froze when she heard a loud scream echoing through the air. She turned her gaze around, looking in all directions. The scream was too distorted for her to make out, but the sound of it caused her blood to run cold. There was so much pain and horror in that scream. She couldn't help but wonder if it was Rudy. Another terrifying thought came to her. If it was Rudy, then was Snap responsible for the scream?

The thought was horrifying. Her two best friends fighting each other... Both suffering in their own way... She paused for a moment, shutting her eyes to allow the chilling feeling of horror move through her body. Once it was done, she gave a quick shudder and shook her head once. Narrowing her eyes in determination, she continued to walk forward.

She would find them and she would get them out of this situation somehow. She still wasn't entirely sure how she was going to pull that off, and she did fear that it would all fall apart. And yet she refused to let go of that hope. She couldn't give up. Not on her friends. They needed her, and she needed them. She refused to allow some hideous jellybean and monstrous bird reptile creature to rip them apart.

She knew that Rudy probably wouldn't want to see her right now. And she understood why. She had hurt him badly. She did shove him away, which resulted in the injury he now adorned. She would be lucky if the injury wasn't permanent. She knew that she was going to have to live with the guilt for a long time, even if Rudy did recover.

She tried her best to push aside her feelings of guilt for now. She couldn't let herself get consumed by it. All that would do was hinder her performance. She needed to focus on trying to find Rudy and get him out of his present situation. She could only hope that Rudy would be smart enough to put aside his own feelings of anger towards her so they could work together to get out of here. They could work on their feelings towards each other later. Right now, it was more important to try to get out of here.

And then there was Snap...

She flinched at the thought of his name. She recalled how he had acted before, when he had tossed Rudy in the teleporter. She still had no clue where he was, and she wasn't even certain if he was here or not. Her mind was so jumbled, she couldn't remember if this was confirmed or not. But somehow...she couldn't help but be certain that he was, and a part of her was almost sure that it was Rudy's scream that she heard. Snap must have done...something to him.

That memotrice had really screwed her friend up. She didn't know how deeply it had changed his memories. She didn't know how far they went. All she did know for sure is that Snap is now convinced that she and Rudy were the bad guys. This thought stung her horribly, filling her with sorrow. The thought of Snap hating them.. It was almost too much to bear. He was her best friend, but to him, she might as well be another Skrawl. No, worse...

She didn't waste anymore time thinking of how everything would be all right. She didn't stop to remind herself of how this would all get through fine in the end. None of that was going to help her right now. Hope was fine, but just hoping wasn't going to get the job done. Keeping her eyes narrowed, pushing her guilty feelings out so she wouldn't be hammered down by them, she made her way further down the tunnel.

Suddenly she saw something in front of her. Something had flashed before her. She tried to locate it, but she didn't see it again. At first, she wondered if it was just a trick of her eye. She shrugged her shoulders and she continued on down slowly, her eyes focusing on what was in front of her.

There it was again. This time, she managed to whip her head around, trying to follow the flash. She couldn't get enough view to see what shape or size it was. It seemed big, but then again, it might also be small and just looked big due to the movement. About the only thing she could really notice was the fact that it seemed like it was gold in color.

Gold... Just like...

"Oof!"

Penny felt herself being flung back as something collided with her. She felt her back being pressed against the ground as something gripped onto her. She felt something cold and hard wrap around her arms, immobilizing them. She opened her eyes and looked up and found herself staring into the blood red gaze of an all too familiar figure.

"C-Cornerstone..?" She whispered. In that moment, she really regretted allowing this plan to come full circle. If she and Rudy hadn't been so stupid...

She let out a yelp of pain as Cornerstone tightened her grip on her. She felt blood nearly being drawn from her. She turned her head to the side as more pressure was applied, hissing through her teeth. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the zoner, a look of fear painted over her face. She watched as Cornerstone lifted her head up, allowing Penny to see that horrified red blotch on her throat that looked like some great wound. Cornerstone then opened her mouth and let out a loud, low hiss. Penny could practically hear the contempt in her airy voice.

Although she knew it was useless, she tried to reason with Cornerstone. She had some intelligence, right? Surely, she would come to understand what was going on if she just explained it to her, right? She...she just had to try.

"Please, Cornerstone.. I-It wasn't what you think.. Rudy and I... we..we didn't..." Penny flinched as she felt Cornerstone squeeze her harder. "We didn't mean to...We... We just needed to find Skrawl and..." She looked up at her pleadingly. "Please..try to understand. That past you think we were a part of...we weren't. It was a lie... Rudy lied to your memory so..so you'd have no reason to help us..so Thoughtless couldn't..."

But despite her pleas, it didn't seem like Cornerstone was listening. Not much of a surprise. Penny widened her eyes and she cringed back as she watched the snake-like zoner release one of her arms so she could raise a twin pair of claws up in the air. Penny looked at the paw with a terrified expression, her eyes going over the sharp tips constantly. She gave one last pleading look to Cornerstone before she shut her eyes and waited for the blow.

Suddenly there was a loud clang and a growl of surprise. Penny reopened her eyes to see what was going on. She looked down and she saw that her right hand, which was the one that Cornerstone released, was raised up in front of her. A long, sharp blade had been drawn and was placed in front of her, shielding her from the blow. Penny stared at this in shock for several moments. Before she had time to fully register it, Cornerstone let out a loud hiss and knocked away the knife, hitting it against the wall and causing it to shatter.

Silence fell upon the room. Penny stared up at Cornerstone with wide, terrified eyes. She was so confused. What was going on? She thought that Rudy had to use the chalk before it did anything with him, and wasn't Reggie the same way? Had they all been wrong?

Her questions were cut off when she was suddenly yanked into the air. The red chalk in her hand was glowing, sparking, as it raised her up, helping her to her feet. It then forced her arm to move out towards Cornerstone, a clear threat to the snake-like zoner. Cornerstone's reptilian eyes registered raw horror and it started to cringe back away from Penny. But the red chalk had other ideas, and it forced Penny to walk towards the snake zoner, despite the girl's attempts to back away.

No..no this couldn't be happening... She had to fight it. She couldn't let the red chalk control her like this. She wasn't some pawn for it to use. She struggled to pull herself backwards, trying the best she could to fight back. Maybe if she kept this up, the red chalk would stop trying and...

She felt her mouth start to tingle a little. She felt a warm yet cold embrace around her. She realized that the red chalk's crimson light was wrapping itself around her, concentrating on her mouth, throat, chest, and diaphram. The tingly sensation grew stronger, and she could feel the muscles begin to twitch. And then, to her horror, her lips began to move on their own and her lungs and diaphram contracting, forcing air through her mouth in a hideous message.

"I am going to rip out your throat..."

Penny was petrified. Was that her own voice? It sounded like it, but it also sounded hissy and growly. She didn't have time to let the meaning of this sink into her before the red chalk took control of her legs and forced her to rush towards Cornerstone. It forced her to let out another statement, even more chilling than the first. A single word, yet so powerful. The one word that would scare anyone if directed at them.

The word she thought she'd never say.

"Die!"


	25. Attached To Crimson Strings

No... This didn't just happen. It couldn't have...

But no matter how hard he blinked, the image stayed there. No matter how well he tried to support himself to see more, no matter how long he stared, nothing changed. The scene remained as horrific as when he first saw it.

Rudy remained on the ground as he watched Snap attempt to wake up the Beanie Boy, whom he had called 'Delta' during his calls to him. Delta was on the ground, motionless. A pool of blood formed around him. The weapon that injured him was on the ground nearby, coated in blood. It was the same weapon that Snap had used to hurt his left hand. This fact wasn't lost on him, but at the moment, it took a back seat to the horror that laid before him.

As much as he hated the Beanie Boys, he never wanted anything bad to happen to them. The same thing goes for any villain he encountered in ChalkZone. Hurting them wasn't something that ever crossed his mind seriously. Sure, he got mad enough to want to strike them, same thing with bullies in the Real World. But...he'd never... Not on purpose...

He remained silent as Snap continously tried to wake up Delta. He was shaking the Beanie Boy rather roughly. It looked painful, and yet Delta never once responded or even twitched. He was just still, like some kind of ragdoll. It almost made Rudy wonder if he was just an oversized doll that Snap found, but he knew better than that.

Delta didn't deserve this. As much of a jerk he was, even after all that he had done, he still didn't deserve this. Being stabbed in the stomach and bleeding out like that, to fall victim to what had been an accident... The only good thing about this was that at least he went swiftly. But the fact he had to suffer at all... And all because of him... Rudy couldn't deny that his actions did bring this about. If he hadn't struggled so hard to get away, then perhaps this wouldn't have happened. Perhaps he...

Or maybe he would just get into bigger trouble. As much as it pained him to think about, Rudy realized that the outcome would have been worse for him if he didn't take action. If something horrible happened to him, then would Skrawl and the memotrice be stopped? Regardless of his own doubts about himself, he was still determined to stop Skrawl and the memotrice. A part of him still drove him to try to do this.

And besides, it was possible that his mind was being toyed with, and perhaps he really didn't do anything wrong like he thought. The thought of himself being used like that made his blood boil.

"You..."

His thoughts were interrupted when Snap turned his head to face him. Rudy was surprised to see the anger that swelled up inside of them. He thought that Snap hated Delta and vice versa. Or maybe Snap was just upset because he hurt a Beanie Boy in general, or was there something else?

"So you have struck again.."

Rudy couldn't help but gulp at this. The sound of Snap's voice... It was a little darker than usual. Trembling, Rudy forced himself to climb up to his feet. He wobbled a little, struggling to keep his balance. Snap was moving towards him, and in a panic, Rudy attempted to scramble to get away. His feet tripped over himself and soon he found himself in the ground once more. Before he knew it, Snap was positioned over him. Rudy tried to get up, but the zoner slammed his foot against him, knocking the wind out of him.

As Rudy struggled to refill his lungs, his left eye focused on Snap, watching him carefully. The zoner was glaring down at him with contempt shining in his eyes. But there was also something else in them that he hadn't noticed before. Something close to...sorrow? Could Snap really have felt a level of sadness for Delta's death? Was there something more to their partnership than what he had seen before? It all just seemed so bizarre.

Rudy tried to grab onto Snap's leg to remove it. He had to stop when the pressure of the wound against the leg caused him to flinch. He looked at his right hand, wincing at the caked blood on there from a previous attack. He could still see it in his head and he couldn't help but shudder. He looked back up at Snap, his eye widened.

"I knew you were cold, Rudy. But I never thought that you'd..." Snap's voice trailed off. It was shaky, as if he were cold. The zoner shut his eyes tightly and seethed through his clenched teeth. He appeared to be struggling to control himself. Rudy watched as the zoner's body trembled. "I guess I was wrong. Then again, after the way you hurt me..." When those eyes reopened, Rudy nearly screamed at how much they were glowing. "Should I really be surprised?"

"S-Snap..." Rudy managed to whisper. "I-I didn't mean to...I..."

Snap slapped him across the face. Rudy let out a cry of pain as his head was tossed to the side. "Shut up! I don't want to hear it!"

Rudy let out a small whimper as he looked up at Snap, his eye unable to move away from Snap's face. That image of Snap's contorted face, it would always be etched in the back of his mind. This realization caused his blood to chill. He had seen so many faces of his friend, but he had never seen him look this way before. Even his earlier hate and anger expressions were nothing compared to this. It was almost as if an imposter had replaced his friend. And if the memotrice was involved, which he still believed, it might as well have done that.

"Perhaps I need to do something else. I thought I could take my time with you. But no." Snap took a moment to look over at Delta's prone form. His expression softened up for a second and he shook his head. "I see I was wrong." He turned to glare down at Rudy. "I should deal with you right now. Screw what Skrawl says. You need to die..." He lifted his head up slightly. "..before you have a chance to hurt anyone else."

Rudy's eyes bulged at this. He shook his head. "No... Please!" He hated feeling like this. He hated acting like this. But he was helpless. Without being able to draw anything, his hands cut up, and his legs unable to reach Snap, how was he going to get out of here? But...but he had to think of something...

Snap chuckled bitterly at this. "I don't see why you are so upset. You were going to die, anyway." Snap narrowed his eyes as he leaned in, turning his head to one side. "Did you really think that Skrawl was going to just let you walk away?"

Rudy's left eye turned from side to side as he tried to figure out a way out of here. He refused to believe there was no way. He just..had to keep searching. Somewhere around here, there was a way out. There always was. He just needed to keep looking as hard as he could and it would show itself soon enough. But the longer it didn't, the more fear began to rise up inside of him. He locked his eye onto Snap, hoping to get some amount of mercy from who was supposed to be his friend. "...please..."

But there was nothing. Just narrowed eyes and a low growl. He could see Snap curl up his lip into a snarl of disgust. He shuddered at the sight of this. He sucked on his lip and he turned his head to the side. He hated being like this. He wanted to be stronger and fight back but...somehow he couldn't. Was it because this was Snap, and not someone like, say, Jacko? Snap is his best friend after all.

Or at least..he was...until...

"If you're going to try to pull some 'but I'm innocent' bullcrap, do it somewhere else, and to someone who cares! But me, I've seen enough horrible things from you to know that you can't be trusted..." Snap's dark voice filled the air. He applied more pressure to his chest, displaying a bit more strength than he usually did. "I saw what you did! Don't you dare deny it!"

"B-But..." Rudy stammered. Despite knowing it was useless, he still felt compelled to try to reason with Snap. Surely he'd listen if he just kept trying. Snap was smart. He'd notice that he was speaking the truth if he just took the time to look. "I was just trying to get away... You...You were hurting me. I just wanted to get away... I-I never wanted to..." His voice trailed off as he lowered his head. "I-I'm sorry..."

But perhaps he gave his ex-friend a little too much credit.

"Heheh... Nice little game there, Bucko. I almost believed it." Snap reached down and patted him against a cheek. "Bravo, Rudy. Bravo." He lifted himself up. "But if you really want to impress me..." He folded his arms against his chest. "Why don't you tell me the truth?"

"The truth? But I did..." Rudy tried to say.

Snap interrupted him. "Time is ticking, Bucko."

Rudy wasn't entirely sure what Snap meant by that, but he knew it wasn't anything good. At least the zoner didn't attempt a threatening move towards him. Instead, the zoner sort of just leaned back, his arms still folded together, waiting for him to speak. Those eyes locked down on him, expecting an answer.

Rudy struggled to think of what to say. The only things he knew of to tell Snap would only cause the zoner to call him a liar and hurt him or whatever else he had in mind. And Snap did express a desire to hurt him. The fact that most of it was borne out of a fallacy stung him. But now Snap had something else to work off of. He had inadvertantly harmed a zoner. Sure he didn't do it deliberately and he wasn't the one who made the blow. But still, if he scrambled like that...

And why didn't he run away? He was starting to, but the sound of Delta falling stopped him. He ahd turned around and watched Snap try to wake him up, and that delay was enough for Snap to corner him swiftly and pin him down. If only he had just run when he got the chance to...

As he laid there in silence, he thought back to Penny. He wondered if this is what she had gone through. Not physically of course, but emotionally. She had accidentally injured his eye. She had pushed him away from Snap... And the blinding pain... He would never forget it. Even now, his eye still hurt him, and he still couldn't help but feel a level of anger towards Penny. If she had only been more careful... Just like he needed to be more careful... His eyes widened. Suddenly he realized the connection between him and Penny.

This must be what she was going through as well. She was most certainly feeling a level of horror that was gripping her mind, ripping through her conscience, threatening to tear her apart. She must want to make it up to him somehow, and he could barely think of anything except keeping her away from him. He felt a horrible sting of guilt at this.

Where was she, anyway? Was she all right? And would he be able to get near her? Or would he shove her away? His logical side might know that she would never deliberately hurt him, but the emotional side still connected her face to the pain. He didn't know if...

"Time is running out."

Rudy realized he had been silent for a little too long. He turned his attention to Snap, whose glare had deepened and there was a strong look of impatience in those eyes.

"I'm waiting." Snap stated simply, his voice cool. "I'll give you one minute to try to explain yourself, and then maybe I'll think of believing you."

Rudy knew nothing he said was going to work. If Snap operated the same way he had when Penny hurt him, well this combined with the memories Snap was certain had happened, there was little reason for the zoner to believe that he was speaking the truth, no matter what he said. He needed to focus on getting out of here. The door was still open. If he could get Snap off of him long enough, then he could make a run for it towards the door. But how?

It was then he looked over at his recently wounded hand. The left one still had blood moving along it. The sight of it filled him with horror. This was his own life force that he was losing. The more red fluid came out, the weaker his body would get. It might not be noticeable now, but all it would take is time, and then he'd feel the effects. But with the way it was moving down his hand, and the effects it was having on the chalk ground, it made him have an idea.

No... He couldn't do that. Not to Snap. He had to think of another way. He just...

But there was no other way. He needed a way to get Snap off quickly. He could struggle hard and that may be enough to make him let go. But that would take so long, and it would give Snap plenty of time to attack him. He had seen him punch before. He didn't want to know what it would feel like having one of those locked against him...

He swallowed hard. He looked up at Snap briefly, giving him a look of regret and a hidden apology. Snap's expression shifted to one of confusion. He widened his eyes slightly, a narrowed look still in them. His mouth opened up and Rudy thought he heard Snap question him. But he didn't listen. Instead, he just focused on Snap's leg, his elft eye moving from it and to his bleeding hand. He paused for a moment, feeling a wave of remorse strike through him. And then he made his move.

Snap's eyes immediately went wide and he let out a scream when Rudy grabbed him by his ankle. The blood, acidic to Snap's chalky nature, burned throug his leotard and began to burn his flesh. New blood, chalk-based, began to trickle down his leg. Snap struggled to pull his leg back. Rudy held on for a while, allowing his blood to seep into the zoner's leg, burning into his ankle's flesh. Then, waiting for the right moment, he let go.

The release caused Snap to stumble backwards. The zoner fell onto his back. He let out a series of cries as he clutched his leg to himself. Rudy got up to his feet and he looked down sorrowfully at who was supposed to be his friend. The sight of Snap shivering in pain like that, how he was curled up, it was enough to nearly break his heart open. He never wanted to do something like this...

Realizing that this was his only chance for escape, Rudy forced himself to tear away from the sight of his writhing friend. He looked towards the door. He didn't waste any time. He began to rush as fast as he could towards the exit.

sss

Penny couldn't believe what was happening. She tried to fight back. She tried to regain control. But nothing she was doing worked. She found herself being constantly yanked forward against her will. She could feel her back heels scraping across the ground, forcing her to constantly move forward, forcing her to keep giving chase to Cornerstone.

But that wasn't even the worst of it. The fact that the red chalk could speak through her was quite bone-chilling. She was glad that she hadn't run into Rudy or Snap. She wasn't sure what kind of horrible stuff the red chalk would make her say to them. Would she even be able to warn them of what was going on or would the red chalk prevent her? Would the mere sight of the red chalk in her hand be enough to warn them?

What felt strange, well mostly horrifying, was the fact that those words she had spoken, it almost felt like she felt them too... It was a strange feeling that creeped into the back of her mind. It didn't feel just like the red chalk speaking through her. It felt like she was coming up with the words herself on some level. It was difficult to explain even to herself. And it terrified her right down to her very core.

She didn't have much time to dwell on her thoughts. Her vision was filled with images of her trying to attack Cornerstone, or rather, the red chalk. Her body had a thin red glow around it as the red chalk took her over physically. It had forced her to draw a long, wickedly sharp sword, and now she was trying to attack Cornerstone with it. Her eyes were wide in horror and she kept trying to pull herself back. She tried to firmly plant her feet down and prevent an attack. But any attempt was short-lived and she found herself being constantly yanked forward despite her best attempts.

She wondered if this is what Rudy and Reggie felt when they were under the red chalk's power. Did they feel just as helpless, just as terrified? Were they forced to say things against their will? What kind of things were they forced to draw? Did Rudy truly tell her everything, or did something so horrible happen that he just couldn't bring himself to tell her?

A loud clang filled her ears, ripping her away from her thoughts. She saw that she had struck the word towards the snake-like zoner. Cornerstone had managed to dodge her and now the zoner was zipping around her, looking for a place to attack. The legged snake zoner had stopped trying to escape from her and now was starting to fight back. A part of Penny was glad as this meant a decreased chance of her hurting her. But now she was worried of what might happen to her. Would she get hurt or would the red chalk do something? Both possibilities filled her with horror.

Cornerstone lowered her head and she lunged at her. Her paws were spread outward, the twin claws on each foot poised to strike. Her mouth was open up wide, showing those long, sharp teeth more clearly. Penny's eyes widened as she envisioned them going into her body.

The red chalk would have none of this. It forced her to jump back away, further than she ever thought possible, and allowed Cornerstone to roll across the ground painfully. The snake zoner was now in a heep on the ground, on her back with her lower half twisted to the side. If it weren't for the fact that she was very flexible, this might have broken her back at worse, or caused a terrible, disabling ache at best. She rose her snake-like head up and shook it a few times. She looked over at her, red eyes narrowed in determination. A glint of fear still shined in them.

The snake zoner rushed at her again. This time, Penny could feel the red chalk forcing her to draw the weapon forward, pointing it directly towards Cornerstone. The sharp tip glinted in what little light there was. Penny realized what was going to happen and she struggled to put the weapon down. But nothing she did worked. The red chalk had an iron-clad grip on her. There was nothing she could do.

However, to her surprise, Cornerstone had been more reflexive this time. Just as the red chalk was making her strike, Cornerstone had moved herself around, angling her body to avoid the sword striking her. It hardly even grazed her. With her mouth open, she seized Penny by her arm. The girl let out a screech of pain at this, feeling Cornerstone lifting her up off the ground. The snake-like zoner held her up for a few seconds, and then it swung her head and let go, allowing her to sail through the air.

Penny felt her shoulder smash against the ground. She shut her eyes tightly and struggled not to scream. Her body flipped over and crashed against the ground in a loud thud. She laid there for a few seconds before the red chalk lifted her up by her arm. She flinched at the pain that this caused her, the way her arm was held at an angle, and she looked over at Cornerstone. The zoner's teeth were bared at her. If the zoner could speak, she would imagine that she would want to give her quite the mouthful to say.

Penny could feel the twitching around her lips and throat again. She felt her heart skip a beat. She realized what was about to happen. She braced herself.

"I see you are a feisty one. Still trying to fight back despite knowing I'm a creator and you're just a zoner." Penny could feel a cold chuckle escape her throat. "Perhaps you need a better excuse to surrender. Maybe if I ripped out your eyes.."

Penny felt a rush of horror through her body. No, she couldn't do that... She began to fight back harder. She pulled her arm back as the red chalk was trying to make her draw. She felt her arm continuously jerk outwards as the red chalk kept making the attempt. She laid her elbow against her arm, pushing it down. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth as she struggled to fight against her own strength.

For several moments, it seemed to be working. She managed to keep her arm down to prevent herself from drawing anything. This didn't last long, however, as Cornerstone charged towards her, letting out a loud roar as she prepared to launch an attack. Penny's left arm weakened as shock overcame her as she noticed the zoner barrelling down towards her. This was enough to allow the red chalk to force her to draw something else. To Penny's horror, she felt her wrist being yanked around at a swift, near impossible rate.

Soon she was holding what appeared to be a gun of some sort. It was angular and vicious looking, and she could have sworn she saw a face on it, smiling. Her finger muscles twitching and pulling against her will, she aimed the gun towards Cornerstone. The snake-like zoner stared at her in shock for a few seconds, but then she appeared to get brave and she still tried coming towards her. Penny gasped at this and she tried to warn Cornerstone not to get any closer. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't utter a word of warning to her.

The trigger was pulled. Penny winced as a loud bang filled the air. She watched in horror as there was a loud thunk and then a splash of red. Cornerstone's eyes widened at this, and Penny thought she saw some blood start to seep out of her mouth. The snake slammed into the ground, rolling across it painfully. Smears of red became present on the ground, leading up to where the snake zoner had collapsed completely, her body twitching in pain.

Penny looked at the ground in horror, her mouth hanging open. Her breathing quickened and she managed to shake her head in denial. Cornerstone wasn't dead, but she might as well be. The bullet had ripped through her shoulder and neck. It had torn enough inside to cause her to leak blood out of her mouth and hinder her breathing. The zoner's body was shivering. If from fear, it was hard to tell, but definitely from pain. Penny looked into the zoner's eyes and for a brief moment, she thought she saw Rudy. This caused her to take a step back.

No...what had she done..? She didn't mean to... This isn't what she wanted... She wanted to do something.. Flee, help Cornerstone, anything... But the red chalk had other plans.

Before she knew it, her concerned look was forcibly transformed into a dark sneer. Her teeth practically glinted, and it felt as though they became sharper. She felt herself being forced to walk towards Cornerstone slowly, her eyes looking over her with satisfaction. Penny's attempts to fight back were futile.

"A shame it turned out this way." She heard herself say. "If only you had run off... Then maybe you wouldn't be in this mess. Oh well..." Her shoulders shrugged. "I could always just...end your misery for you."

At this, Cornerstone let out a loud hiss. Penny could have sworn she heard a 'fuck you' interlaced in that hissy voice.

She felt herself chuckling at this response. Her head was twisted to the side, her grin growing more and more twisted, her pupils shrinking in what could be described as insanity. "Oh what a temper you have. You zoners can be so much fun. It's been a long time since I got to enjoy this. Maybe I won't kill you now. Maybe...I will just have a little bit of fun..."

Cornerstone struggled to get up. She managed to stand on her feet, much to Penny's surprise. But her legs, they kept wobbling... She was unstable, and the red chalk knew it. All it took was a swift kick to her front leg, pushing it back far enough to irritate the shoulder, and the zoner soon crumbled down again, her body shaking even harder.

"How pathetic... You really think you stand a chance against me now? Look at yourself!" The gun was pointed towards the snake-like zoner. "You are better off just sitting there and taking this like a zoner! Come on...where is your zoner pride?" The voice coming out of her was so sarcastic and brutal... Penny could hardly believe that it was her own. "I know how you zoners are. You think you are so special! Well why don't you show it to me?" Cornerstone looked at her, pain still etched on her scaly face. "Show me!"

Penny felt a mixture of impressiveness and horror when Cornerstone did manage to get up again. This time, she dug her claws into the stony ground, trying to keep some leverage. The snake zoner opened her mouth, hanging her head over and panted a few times. She remained this way only for a few seconds. Then she looked back at her. Fear was strongly evident on that face, making Penny want to turn around and run. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not break her body free of the red chalk's control.

Before she knew it, the red chalk forced her to walk a little closer to Cornerstone. The snake-like zoner attempted to bite her, but she felt her body twist away to the side, allowing the zoner to miss her completely. She then felt the red chalk take control of her right hand again and in seconds, rope was wrapped around the zoner's mouth, sealing it shut tightly. With a smirk, her arm yanked back, forcing the zoner to lurch forward, her legs sprawling out behind her. Then more rope was created, tying her against one of the thick rock formations. Cornerstone was tied so closely, there was almost no room for her to manuever.

The sword was lifted up again. It was leveled towards Cornerstone, the sharp tip being pointed close to one of her eyes. It was so near that if Cornerstone were to jerk just a little to that side, the sharp tip would penetrate the orb. As such, the snake zoner froze, holding herself as still as possible.

Penny continued to smile evilly at the zoner, against her will of course. Her arm muscles tightened up as the sword was moved close along the snake-like zoner's body slowly, tormenting her mentally. "Now...where should I strike first...?"

Suddenly, before she had a chance to strike, there was a flash of red in front of her gaze. Something was coming towards her at a swift pace. She heard the sound of toe claws clanging the ground. Then before she knew it, the brief image of a bird-like figure came into her field of vision. Then she felt something against her chest and she stumbled backwards.

By the time she was able to recover, she saw that now standing in front of Cornerstone was a new zoner. But not just any zoner. She recognized this one almost instantly.

It was Thoughtless.

(Enough of this!) Thoughtless's voice seemed to practically boom through her head. (You had enough fun!)

Penny felt a level of confusion. Why was Thoughtless standing so protectively in front of Cornerstone? She thought that it didn't really care about any other zoner besides itself. After all, how else could it take such wicked pleasure in messing with zoner memories and turning zoners against one another? How else could it strike fear in the hearts of many and do nothing to redeem itself?

Unless...could Thoughtless see something of himself in Cornerstone? Her mind flashed back and she remembered that Thoughtless had been captured for a short time. And Cornerstone was tied up and left out in the open. Perhaps Thoughtless had found out about this when it searched her memory and it found a kindred spirit in her. Whatever the case, the result was still the same. She wouldn't be able to make another move towards Cornerstone without going through Thoughtless first. How would she be able to do that without causing it to use its memory powers on her?

Although she started to have some doubts of whether or not it could, Penny couldn't help but wonder if Thoughtless really could do such a thing to her. Was she really willing to risk finding out? No...but the red chalk was. She could feel herself adopting a hostile stance against her will, her teeth clenching in annoyance.

"Stand aside, birdie." Her twisted voice hissed. "Or would you rather trade places?"

Thoughtless was silent for a few moments. It looked as if it were considering her, no..the red chalk's words. It wasn't silent for very long. (So you are the red chalk. Fascinating.) It looked at her up and down, examining her. (I had a feeling this would be a success. This deserves further study.)

A hideous growl. "You will do no such thing! I am not a guinea pig for you to exploit!" Penny laughed internally at this. It was comical that the red chalk was speaking this way while it was using her like a toy.

(Oh? You really think so? Perhaps you would like to prove it?) Thoughtless tilted its head to one side. (Without that girl, you're nothing.)

"That's not true!"

(Oh really? Why don't you try to fight me without using her as a puppet?)

Silence.

Thoughtless smirked at this. (I thought not.)

Penny felt a strange mixture of emotions as this scene played out. A part of her hoped that Thoughtless knew of a way to get the red chalk off of her and allowing her to be free. But another part of her worried of what it was going to do. No way Thoughtless would just let her leave. Would a fate by him be worse than a fate the red chalk would give her? She was cut off from her thoughts when Thoughtless spoke again.

(Perhaps this isn't a good place to talk. Maybe we should go elsewhere.) Thoughtless began to move towards her, no trace of fear in its brown eyes. (Do please not struggle. Make this easier. All I'm going to do is take you somewhere so we can speak. I'm sure that you...Penny...) Thoughtless's eyes gleamed as it stared directly into her eyes, clarifying this address. (...will want to know what's going on with you. I think you will find it quite the..fascinating tale...)

Penny clenched her teeth tightly. The next words out of her mouth were ones that she could agree with the red chalk on. "You're just trying to trick me."

Yes, this was the case, she was sure. After all, Thoughtless was toying with Skrawl, messing with him and his Beanie Boys. There was little reason to doubt its involvement of trickery with her. She almost hoped that the red chalk would make a move towards this beast.

Thoughtless shrugged. (Think what you'd like to. But for now..)

"Why don't you just drop on the ground?!" With that, Penny could feel the gun being leveled towards the memotrice. Before she knew it, the trigger was pulled and the loud bang echoed through the air.

This time, things didn't occur the same way. Instead of hitting Thoughtless, the memotrice merely jumped out of the way, allowing the bullet to hit against a distant ground. The sound of ricocheting could be heard, a distant flash indicating where the bullet was bouncing off distant walls. Penny could only see this for a few seconds before her vision filled with crimson feathers, and she was sent flying back again.

She could feel herself scrambling up to her feet at the will of the red chalk. Her legs and arms were moving at more exertion than she thought she could musture. It took her only seconds to get up, moving faster tha she ever thought possible. She could feel her hands raise up her weapons, the gun and the sword, and glaring back at where Thoughtless stood. Or rather, where it used to stand. Confused, she looked left and right, trying to find it. Then she felt something cold press against her.

Immediately she felt a blinding flash of pain. It ripped through her body, causing it to tremble. Her eyes widened like saucers and she became aware of distant screaming. No..it was her screaming. She struggled to get away, but it seemed as if no matter where she went, the pain would follow. She already could feel her vision starting to blur.

(Like I said, you are coming with me. And don't think you will get away. I have more of these lying around.)

Penny wasn't sure what Thoughtless was talking about. She couldn't even turn her head enough to see what the object was. All she was aware of was the horrible pain, the agony that spread through her, coursing through her very soul. Her head filled with her own screams...as well as the red chalk's. She could feel it try to wretch itself away from her, but her fist was so tightly clutched, it couldn't.

Soon Penny found herself collapsing to the ground. She winced as the cold ground collided with her. The bouts of pain still rushed through her, and it felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside out. She continued to convulse, kicking her legs out, desperately trying to get away from the pain. She kept her eyes shut, but a pulse zipped through her, causing her eyes to open on reflex. When she did, through her blurred vision, she could see Thoughtless standing there.

(I see I caused you a bit too much pain...) Thoughtless said cooly. It seemed to notice the tears of pain moving down her cheeks. (Let me rectify that...)

Penny's body stiffened up when she felt a sharp jab against the side of her head. Another wave of pain spread throughout her skull, threatening to crack it open. In that instance, she lost senses, everything growing dark and silent. Then, with an involuntary intake of breath, she collapsed.

But at least she wasn't in pain anymore.

sss

It had taken a while before Mrs. Tabootie could get her friend to speak what was on her mind. And even then, it was hard for her to believe the words that came out of her mouth. Everyone else around her was just as shocked.

It was so... surreal. No, that wasn't the right word. What was it she was trying to think of? What word applied here? Unrealistic? Perhaps. Bizarre? Oh definitely. Then again, this wasn't the first time that Rudy or Penny drew the attention of an adult. They both had their talents. They were pretty prolific for little children.

But to garner this kind of attention... It was unsettling. Mrs. Tabootie found it hard to believe that anyone would be this desperate to... She wanted to believe that Mrs. Sanchez was incorrect, that she was mistaken somehow. Or even lying. She'd take that over what the woman ended up telling her. But in the end, she knew it was true. Mrs. Sanchez wouldn't lie to her like this.

"Terry Bouffant...did that?"

Mrs. Sanchez looked away from the other adults. She stared off into the distance silently. She looked reluctant to believe this herself. There was a look of disbelief in her eyes. She appeared to be trying to find another way around this. Yet she found nothing. She looked back at them, clennching her teeth tightly. She nodded her head slowly. As she did, a stiff, cold silence swept through the room and no one spoke a word.

It was so hard to believe that Terry would be interested in their children. It didn't seem like something she'd do. And yet, Mrs. Sanchez recounted how the woman had hounded her daughter at school one day. Such behavior was normal for a reporter trying to get some juicy information. But for that behavior to be directed towards a little child... Something was really wrong. Why would Terry show that much interest in Penny?

And it wasn't just Penny. Mrs. Sanchez noted one time seeing Terry going after Rudy. The fact that she didn't try to hurt the kids was of some comfort. But they were still unnerved by the whole thing. There was something really wrong with that woman, and the fact that they didn't know what it was made her seem all the scarier. Just...what was she up to...?

Many red flags were raised in their heads. They were aware that women are just as dangerous as men; Terry being a woman didn't make the situation any less terrifying. Who knows how long she had been stalking their kids? And what if she was still doing it? Just how much information did this woman find out about their children? And what was she going to do with that information? Was she going to try to smear their names? Would she really do that to a couple of innocent children?

Mrs. Tabootie gritted her teeth at the thought of it. Before, she hadn't thought much of Terry. She wasn't a friend, but she certainly didn't mind her so much. She was just a newsreporter after all. Just how bad could she be? But now she saw just how potentially dangerous she was. She had been relentlessly hunting down their children for...something, and from what her friend said, she wasn't exactly gentle about it. Especially when she had overheard Terry refer to Penny as 'a little brat'.

But the one thing that bothered Mrs. Tabootie above all of this was the fact that Mrs. Sanchez hadn't told them any of this until now. That was why she had looked so guilty earlier. She had known that this was going on and she didn't tell them. They all, especially Mrs. Tabootie who regarded her as her closest friend, felt the sting of betrayal and hurt cling to their chests. Even though the vet had apologized to them, that didn't lessen the pain by much. She still should have told them sooner.

They tried not to focus on that too much. Right now, they had more important things to worry about. They had a potential suspect now. Even if she wasn't the one who did this, they still needed to do something about her. All this stalking that she was doing...it had to be put to a stop. What if she went after their children again? What if she tried to hurt them? How far would she go?

"I can't believe she would do something like that..." Tilly murmured under her breath. "I know I haven't seen her much, but she never looked like a...a criminal."

"I thought she was nicer than that. I guess it was all a facade." Mr. Tabootie's voice had a slight tinge of bitterness to it. "That's what happens in life. You think you know someone and they yank the rug out from underneath you."

Mrs. Tabootie nodded her head. "The way she spoke about Penny was despicable..."

Mrs. Sanchez winced slightly. "I could hardly believe it myself."

Who knew that Terry would turn out to be such an asshole? Her previous personality she showed didn't reveal much of a sadistic person. But now they knew the truth. She was a bully in an adult's body. She was a bitch who was stalking little children. This was far different from the Terry they thought they knew. But in the end, as Mr. Tabootie said, that was life.

"So...what should we do?" Mrs. Tabootie asked. She looked at Mrs. Sanchez for a couple seconds before turning to look at the other two adults. "What course of action should we take?"

"I'd say we call the police." Mr. Tabootie's voice was firm.

Tilly looked a little skeptical. "Would they take us seriously?"

Mr. Tabootie scoffed at this. "You think they would believe any lies she says?" He rolled his eyes at this. "Come on! The woman talks about some exotic fake world where drawings come to life! Don't tell me you think anyone would be dumb enough to fall for that."

"Yes, but her being weird doesn't make her more suspicious. The police aren't going to arrest her just for believing in a fabled chalk world." Tilly pointed out. She raised up her finger as she continued to explain. "What we need to do is find proof."

"That is true..." Mrs. Tabootie had to admit, her sister did make a good case. They might have their suspicions, but they needed some way to connect Terry to the disappearances. This means looking for any possible alibies and looking for evidence that could link her here. They didn't even know where she was. For all they knew, she went out of town for a while. "Where should we start?"

A bit of silence at first. They all looked at Mrs. Sanchez intently. They didn't like putting her on the spot, but she was the one who first suggested the idea of Terry Bouffant being responsible for the disappearances of the children. If she could think such a thing, then perhaps she already thought of what they could do about it. She was smart. She could think of something, right?

But to their disappointment, Mrs. Sanchez didn't have an idea. She looked at them all sadly before closing her eyes and bowing her head. The sight of this made them all slump forward slightly in disappointment. Well, so much about that.

But wait...perhaps there was something. Mrs. Tabootie searched her mind as thoughts rushed through. She studied them carefully, her eyes darting left and right. There might be something that they could do. She wasn't entirely sure yet, but...what else could they try? And besides, they couldn't get in trouble for this, now could they? Unlike the suspicion of her possibly taking the children, the school had video cameras. They would have caught Terry confronting their children, showing her strange and horrible behavior. If they showed that to the police...

Mrs. Tabootie soon became aware of everyone now looking at her, including Mrs. Sanchez. All of them wore expressions of curiosity, their eyes glinting with curiosity. They refused to look away from her, or even speak. They were just...waiting patiently for her to talk. She realized they must have caught her own expression.

At first, she remained quiet. The feeling of having so many eyes on her felt so strange. Not that it never happened before, but this time, it felt so intense. Perhaps because now she was involved in something really important. Her next words could change everything, and that left her feeling excited..but also worried. What if she gave them the wrong advice? What if she turned out to be wrong and she ended up making things worse?

Well regardless, she couldn't just stay silent about this. Not while their children were in trouble.

With eyes narrowed in determination, she broke the silence. "Do you think the school is still open now?"

The three adults gave her confused expressions. They looked at one another. They murmured a little, whispering questions and answers to each other. They all shook their head at least once, and Mrs. Tabootie already knew what the answer was going to be.

"No." Mr. Tabootie said at last. "It's pretty late now." He looked outside. He flinched visibly, and Mrs. Tabootie could see why. The sun was setting now. "If anyone is there, it might be the principal or the janitors. But even that's just a guess. I don't think they'd be there now."

"What was your plan?" Asked Tilly.

Mrs. Tabootie glanced over at her sister. "I was thinking that we could talk to someone at the school and see if they could let us see that video footage."

"Video footage?" Mrs. Sanchez asked, tilting her head to one side. "I don't remember seeing any cameras."

"They don't have too many of them. The school can't afford it." Mrs. Tabootie tried her best to hide her anger towards the school not being willing enough to spend money on a better security system. If they had set aside the need to hire traveling teachers and focused on protecting their students more, then Rudy and Penny would have been safe. "But I know I saw one outside somewhere. It records part of the front of the exit gate, where you picked up Penny that one day."

Mrs. Sanchez's eyes slightly glinted in realization at this. "So you're saying that if we can get that footage.."

"Then we might have a leverage over Ms. Bouffant." Mrs. Tabootie finished.

As the other adults looked at each other and, one by one, began to nod in agreement and approval of this, Mrs. Tabootie found herself looking outside. She wasn't sure if they would get too far with this. She wasn't even sure if the law worked this way. Law wasn't something that she studied so much, and for all she knew, she was potentially making things worse.

But for now, she joined the other adults in preparing their trip to the school tomorrow.


	26. Similarities

When Penny first woke up, the first thing she noticed was the dizzying pain in her head. It almost felt as if she had been smashed against some huge, hard rock, which somehow wouldn't really surprise her. She sat up slowly, trying her best to regain her senses. Her eyesight took a while to clear up and when it did, she looked at her surroundings.

She appeared to be in some sort of large, clear dome situated in a tall tower. She looked up and she thought she saw the tiniest bit of light. The lid was open, not that it did her much good. The walls were thick and hard, and she couldn't see a way out. Even if she could get out, she was still stuck. Surely the door leading to the hallway was locked. Climbing up wasn't possible either; the walls were so slick there was simply no grippage available.

Just how did she get here? She had difficulty remembering what happened recently. Oh she did remember something about red chalk and a strange energy and she was certain she was controlled... Or was that all just a dream? She placed her hand against her head, feeling her mind swim. It was all so confusing. Maybe if she sat down and thought about this long enough, she would begin to remember what actually happened.

There wasn't any place in here to sit down in. The room was empty. She let out a soft groan. Well there was no use complaining. She already knew she was a prisoner. Why would she expect hospitality from her captors? She pressed her back against the nearest wall and slid down. She brought her legs up, her knees pressing against her chest, and she remained in this position while she continued to think.

Despite her confusion, she knew the most likely culprit who had captured her. That much she remembered. It had to have been Skrawl or...what was his name... Thoughtless. She had no idea what she was in for, but knowing them, it wasn't going to be anything pleasant. Knowing Skrawl, she wouldn't be kept in the dark for very long. She could almost see that zoner waltzing in right now to brag to her on capturing her. Or perhaps he wouldn't waste time on that and just move forward with his plans for her.

When the door opened up, she could see that she had been correct. Well mostly. The figure that came in wasn't Skrawl, but it was that other villain she recalled was involved. She narrowed her eyes, remaining silent as Thoughtless walked towards her, stopping in front of the glass wall.

(You are awake now. Good.) Thoughtless smiled. (How are you feeling?)

Penny growled at it and turned her head away. It took all her strength not to retort back at the zoner. It was so easy for her to snap at it, to tell it off. She knew that would only make things worse, though, so she did her best to keep quiet. She refused to make eye contact, knowing that doing so would only make it so much harder for her to keep her mouth shut.

Thoughtless wasn't going anywhere. She couldn't hear the footsteps of it leaving. She wasn't sure what expression it wore, but she imagined it was that same smiling one. She could almost hear it chuckling at her, as if this whole thing was amusing. She could feel its eyes boring through her head, as if it were trying to make her turn around and look at it. No, she had to keep her gaze away. If Thoughtless wanted to speak, then it can. But that didn't mean she had to look at it while it did so.

Thoughtless appeared to grow a little tired of waiting for a reply. (I see you need a little time alone.)

Penny struggled not to reply 'yes' to that. She did want this zoner to leave her alone. She had no desire to be anywhere near it. She would be happy when it finally left her alone. But of course, no surprise, she wasn't that lucky.

(But not just yet. First...a little bit of a talk.) Thoughtless didn't seem to mind too much that she wasn't looking at it. Perhaps it was because, no matter how hard she tried, she would still hear its voice. It echoed inside of her head. (My apologies for knocking you out. It was, however, necessary.)

At this, Penny recalled the memotrice's actions. She remembered it slamming against her. She recalled something that it used to send shockwaves of pain through her body. At this memory, she could feel some phantom pain moving through her body. She couldn't help but shudder, especially around the areas that had been attacked by the memotrice. She instinctively looked down at her arm when she felt a surge of pain there. She was both relieved and horrified that there was no mark there.

But why did the memotrice use that object against her? That was a dumb question. It was to capture her, obviously. She narrowed her eyes. She turned her head slightly, glancing just barely at the memotrice. She couldn't see its details all that well. Not that she cared. She immediately turned her head away and snorted. The memotrice didn't seem to like that very much and she was certain that it was arching itself up.

(You should be thanking me.) Thoughtless's hissing mental voice zipped through her skull. Penny merely shut her eyes and took a few steps away. (If it weren't for me, you'd still have that red chalk stuck to your hand!)

Penny froze. Memories flashed in the back of her mind. She could see the mental pictures zipping through her skull constantly. The images wouldn't leave her alone. She found herself being forced to watch these memories unfold in her head, almost as if someone had found the play button in her brain and pressed it.

Yes, she remembered now... The red chalk was put in her hands by...what was his name... Delta? Yes, that was it. He put it in her hand and Cornerstone had been there to make sure it remained in her hand, but then she broke free and there was a chase and...

...she had attacked the zoner.

Her eyes widened in horror when she remembered how the red chalk had taken her over. And not just in the 'forcing her to draw against her will' sort of way. But it had actually made her talk, too. She had threatened the snake zoner. She had given her more of a reason to hate her, to be afraid of her. If Cornerstone wasn't convinced before, she sure was now. And those horrible things she was made to draw... She could feel her blood running cold at the memory.

Thoughtless was correct. If it hadn't shown up when it did, she would have killed Cornerstone... And there was no way she would be able to live with that. She would never forgive herself for hurting a zoner. Even though Cornerstone had been trying to hurt her, she would never want anything bad to happen to her. She didn't deserve it. It wasn't her fault she was created that way. It...it was hers... She and Rudy did this to her. True, it was meant to help them locate Skrawl and Thoughtless, she still felt rather dirty about it. There had to have been a better way. Maybe if she and Rudy ahd thought hard enough, they could have figured out something and...

No, there wouldn't have been enough time. She had to remind herself that they had little choice. Sometimes the good guys have to do bad things for the benefit of others. This was something that she had to accept, although that didn't mean that she had to like it. She could only hope that she and Rudy would, in the end, be able to stop this whole mess.

(It wasn't easy removing the red chalk from your hand. It required surgery. Well if you could call it that...)

Penny stared down at her right palm. She noticed a big cut in it. It looked like someone had slashed a cylinder shape in her hand. It was stitched up tightly and she could see the redness from the stitches themselves. The skin felt a little tighter than usual and she realized that they had to remove a bit of skin from her hand. At this realization, she felt tingling, sharp pain move through her palm. She clutched her hand tightly, trying to cope with the pain.

She then realized something. Forcing herself to let go of her hand so she could raise it up to see it better, she stared at the palm. She looked carefully at the needle that had been moved through her palm to help hold the skin together. But..she was in ChalkZone... How was this possible...?

Before she knew it, she had looked over at Thoughtless. The memotrice was watching her in silence. It appeared to notice her questioning expression and it simply smiled. Penny kept staring at it for several moments, thoughts rushing through her head. Just how did this zoner...do this...? It shouldn't have been possible. She was from the Real World. Her blood would have dissolved the needle and the threat...

Just what was going on here?

(I can tell you are confused.) Thoughtless motioned towards her hand. (You want to know how I did that.) Penny managed to nod her head jerkingly. (Simple. The needle and threat didn't touch the blood. Human skin doesn't dissolve chalk. Those stitches are quite shallow.)

Penny looked down at her wrist. That would explain why it seemed more red than it should be. But something about it didn't seem right. "Yeah but still..."

Thoughtless cut her off. (No need to worry about it. It's fine now.)

Penny was tempted to try to press on and find out more. She couldn't help but wonder if Thoughtless was hiding something from her. That wouldn't really come as a shock to her. It seemed to be a rather mysterious zoner whose true motivations are unknown. She doubted even Skrawl knew what this thing wanted.

And now here she was, trapped in here with Thoughtless right outside. Even with its smile, its intentions seemed hidden underneath. She couldn't read its thoughts. She couldn't pry into its head and see what it was thinking. That expression... it was reminding her of how much she feared Thoughtless more than Skrawl. An enemy with an unknown goal is scarier than one with the most horrible of plans. Skrawl, she could predict. Thoughtless? Who knows what was going on inside that bird's skull.

She decided to drop the topic. She knew she wasn't going to get any answers from this beast. Anything she'd try to ask it, it'd just toss to the side like it was nothing. So she decided to focus on something else.

"Where is Cornerstone?"

(Ah yes. That snake beast. Don't worry, she's fine. I have no intent on hurting her.) Thoughtless said. (She and I are...quite similar really.) It motioned to itself as it said this. (Both were trapped like animals not long after we were created. I see a lot of myself in her.)

Penny narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, I bet you can."

(I can sense sarcasm in you. Don't worry. I understand your frustrations.) Thoughtless paced back and forth in front of the glass cage. (You have little reason to trust me...) It paused for a moment. (Just like Cornerstone has little reason to trust you.) It tilted its head to the side, leaning in towards the cage's clear walls. (After all, you and Rudy did create her with quite a tragic backstory.)

Penny widened her eyes at this. She stared at Thoughtless in shock. "Y-You..?"

Thoughtless nodded its head. (I was aware the whole time that she was created with the intent of infiltration. I knew she wasn't harmed by you or Rudy; you just made her think that way so that I would deem her an ally and bring her in. I could have just killed her, but I saw too much of myself in her. So I thought instead to just let her come and deal with you and your friend accordingly.) Thoughtless gave a smile. (It is working out pretty well, don't you think?)

Penny felt her heart clenching at this. Her mind flashed back to what happened before. She recalled how things hadn't gone exactly as they had hoped. Back then, she thought it was just a stroke of bad lack. They were still able to find this place, but they were still caught in the process. They had run into Biclops, who had tried to hurt them, and then Snap led them somewhere and..

She realized now that Snap had been under the control of Thoughtless. In addition to the hurt that she felt, it also left her feeling confused. If that were the case, why did Biclops chase after him? She had thought it was because Biclops was in on the whole thing. ...well yeah he still was, but she still recalled how it was Cornerstone's signal that led them there in the first place. Now knowing this, it all started to make sense now. Cornerstone leading them to that one spot hadn't been a stroke of luck. It wasn't just a clever plan. It was a sign that Skrawl and Thoughtless knew all alon what they were up to and they had played them for fools.

Penny clenched her teeth tightly. Why didn't she realize it before? Why didn't she foresee Thoughtless seeing through the fake memories? It was a memotrice, for crying out loud. Memories were its specialty. She had been so stupid. She was the smart one. She should have figured it out. Why did she not...

..then again, she didn't realize Snap was brainwashed until it was too late...

(Well I need to leave for now. I'm sure Skrawl is wondering where I am. But I do want to tell you one more thing before I go. Since you are my guest, it is only fair that I tell you what I have in store for you.) Thoughtless pulled its neck back into an S shape. Penny glared at it, but made no attempt to keep the memotrice quiet. (You recall how the red chalk was glued to your hand?)

"That is a feature of the red chalk, yes." Penny grumbled. "That isn't anything new. You just wanted me to run rampant or something."

Thoughtless chuckled at her statement. (Well true, the red chalk does make creators go nuts. Or at least, their creations. But..have you ever thought of where the red chalk comes from?) It tilted its head to one side. (I'm certain you were curious at one point.)

Penny shot it a glare. "If I were ever curious, it would be to stop the red chalk in its tracks."

Thoughtless nodded. (Of course. You see the red chalk as the enemy. You would want it to be stopped.) Thoughtless took a step towards Penny. Its eyes narrowed slightly. (But dear Penny... That is not what is meant to happen. The red chalk is far more valuable than you think. It has...potential that you are not willing to see.) It raised its wings up. (It was not created for destruction, but as an experiment to 'breathe life' as they say.)

Penny couldn't help but give a bitter laugh at this. "Oh please! The red chalk is nothing more than a menace!"

(I can see why you'd think that. But like I said, there's so much more to it.)

Penny shook her head. "Like what?"

(Life, my dear Penny. Life!) Thoughtless raised its wings almost like it was going to give one great flap. Despite its size, it looked like it would be able to pump a great wave of air at her, slamming her against the wall. (The red chalk is the result of an experiment gone right! Or...wrong, depending on how you look at it.)

Penny didn't understand what this creature was trying to tell her. Nothing it said was making sense. How could the red chalk be related to life when all it did was destroy? She had yet to see a friendly red chalk creature anywhere. She shook her head. She knew Thoughtless was crazy. But this was taking the cake.

(A powerful geomite was fused with ordinary chalk. Not the magical kind, but regular ones. Duds if you want to call them that. The result was the red chalk. Due to the fusion, it was bestowed upon with great power. It was supposed to be a way for zoners to use chalk. It was created around when there were no more creators in ChalkZone, and some disgrunteld zoners wanted to bring that element back. They say that it was wrong to kick out the creators, that ChalkZone was meant to have creators running around. Creators were part of our circle of life, and without them, ChalkZone was incomplete.)

"There's a good reason to keep humans out. The last time there were a bunch of humans here, ChalkZone nearly fell into dissaray!" Penny glared at the memotrice. She formed a tight fist with her had. It took all her willpower not to strike against the glance. "How could you say it was a good idea to have more of them...?!"

(I didn't. But the point is, they did. Those zoners who created the red chalk. They wanted to bring back that element. They failed; the red chalk would only work for humans.) Thoughtless told her. Its tail slowly swished from side to side behind it. (But it still had an effect on them. Studies show that red chalk was able to bond with their creator that held them. A genuine friendship was formed left and right.)

"Psh! Yeah right!" Penny rolled her eyes. She felt her blood heating up. She couldn't believe that Thoughtless was even suggesting such a thing. The red chalk was dangerous. There was nothing good about it. She refused to believe that any zoner would be dumb enough to create something that dangerous. "If that's the case, why did the red chalk start controlling the creators then? How come it uses them like toys? How come when Rudy tried to fight back, the red chalk attacked him?" She folded her arms against her chest. "Why don't you explain that to me?"

Thoughtless remained silent. It appeared, at first, to have some difficulty answering this. Penny did her best not to smirk. She knew that she would be able to call its bluff. Maybe now it would tell her the truth. Not that she was too interested in hearing this stuff. But she would rather hear the truth than some kind of fabricated lie.

Thoughtless simply smiled at her, taking her a little off guard. (I know it's hard for you to believe. But it's the truth. There were many old records you could look through if you don't believe me. Now as for your question...) Penny watched the bird-like zoner carefully. A part of her was almost morbidly curious to find out just what Thoughtless believes to be the case with red chalk. (The red chalk was an ally at first, until it was infected.)

"Infected?" Penny blinked at this. Thoughtless nodded its head. This wasn't what she was expecting to hear. "How? With what? The geomite?"

Thoughtless shook its head at this. (No, something else.) It paused for a moment. Then it added, (You recall those creators that used to run around? The ones that Biclops had shown Rudy?) Penny nodded her head cautiously. (Did you ever wonder what happened to them?)

At this, Penny's head tilted to the side as she stared at Thoughtless in confusion. What could it be talking about? What did the red chalk have to do with the children's disappearances? What did it have to do with them at all? None of those children were using red chalk. Whether or not it existed back then wasn't the point. There simply was no red chalk in those visions that Biclops had shown.

There had to be something else. What was she missing? What was she not seeing? She thought as hard as she could, looking through those memories, struggling to try to see what point Thoughtless was making. She could feel her had give off a dull ache as she thought harder and harder about the situation. There had to be something that she was overlooking. Something that may be so very obvious that when she did realize it, she would feel like an idiot. There had to be something that connected those kids to the red chalk. But what was it? The only thing was that they were both...

She paused at this. Her eyes widened in shock. She stared at the memotrice in disbelief. She shook her head slowly, not wanting it to be true. There...there had to be something else. Anything else... She had already thought of many terrible things. But this... This was beyond what she thought was possible. The implications were terrifying.

And as she looked into Thoughtless's eyes, seeing the way it was looking at her, seeing that smile... She knew that it was true.

(You never thought of why the behavior of the red chalk and those children were so similar?) Thoughtless asked in a taunting voice. It turned its head to one side. (You never once thought that was suspicious?)

Penny stammered at this. "B-But...but how...?"

Thoughtless chuckled. (Oh wouldn't you like to know? I think you might know it already, if you think hard enough.) Thoughtless motioned a wing towards her. (I will be leaving soon so you will have plenty of time to think of what I said.)

Penny felt her had being flooded with thoughts. She tried to make sense of what Thoughtless was talking about. What was it trying to imply? She searched her mind frantically as she tried to locate something that... But nothing came to mind. Her head was too swollen in confusion. She had never felt so confused in her life.

(One more thing.)

Penny looked over at the memotrice. It was clear it wasn't quite done talking yet.

(One of the effects of the red chalk, the thing about life... Well, the red chalk prolongs that. It makes the creator impervious to serious wounds.) Thoughtless noticed her expression and it just continued to smile. (Why else do you think Rudy could survive being launched like that? Why do you think his arm didn't break when that machine I saw in Snap's memories was shaking him?)

Penny stared at the memotrice in shock at this. She wanted to say something, anything. But she was in too much shock to say anything. She remained silent, her mouth hanging open. Her mind began to slowly process this information.

(I will give you time to think about what I told you. But do not worry. I will be back to tell you a bit more.) Thoughtless chortled at this. (After all, considering what will happen to you... it is best if you learn as much about the red chalk as you can.)

Penny widened her eyes at this. Before she could think to say anything to Thoughtless, the memotrice had veered away from her and began to walk away. She was soon left alone, the only sound being the earthquake of thoughts that were colliding together in her skull.

sss

"So let me get this straight..."

Snap tried his best not to whimper. He couldn't show any signs of weakness. Especially not in front of his boss, or the other Beanie Boys. They would question his quality as second-in-command and he would lose that title.

"Not only did you allow Delta to be killed..." Skrawl's voice was an odd mixture of emotion. The only one that he could positively identify was anger. "But you allowed Rudy Tabootie to escape?!"

Snap flinched at this. He did his best to keep himself standing up tall, regardless of how he was feeling. He opened his mouth to speak in protest, but he thought better of it. Doing so might just make the jellybean angerier. So instead, he opted to just nod his head slowly. He could hear gasps and murmurs among the Beanie Boys. He tried his best to ignore them as he lowered his head slightly in a submissive bow to Skrawl.

"It was an accident." Snap managed to say. "I never meant for it to happen. Rudy, he was just too..."

"You should have known how he would be! You should have seen it coming! You should have been able to stop him before he got that far!" Skrawl's voice boomed in the air. Through his top vision, Snap could see the jellybean was holding out his hand, the claws flexed inward as if to pierce through him. "But instead you...you..." He stopped himself, his breaths coming in heavy puffs through his teeth. It was clear Skrawl was trying to calm himself down.

"I'm sorry. It will not happen again." It was all Snap could think of to say.

"I sure hope not...for your sake..." Skrawl glared at him harshly.

Snap couldn't stop the brief shiver that went through his form. "Does this mean that...?"

Skrawl regarded this for a few moments. He looked as if he was contemplating the idea. Snap remained frozen, a part of him silently begging that it not be the case. But he dare not try to speak up and make Skrawl do anything he didn't want to. Then, slowly, he saw Skrawl shake his head. Snap resisted the urge to smile. "No. I will give you another chance. We do still need you to track down this little brat."

Snap saluted Skrawl. "You can count on me! I will find him and I will bring him back!"

Skrawl stared at him for a moment. A small, faint smile appeared on his face. It was hard to tell what this smile was for. Out of amusement or something else? "I'm sure that you will." He lifted up his head and looked over at the other Beanie Boys. "I want four of you to accompany Snap! Hunt down Rudy! I do not want you five coming back until you have found him!"

The Beanie Boys looked at one another. They gave each other nods and then, at random, four of them, two in the front, and two in the back, walked forward. They made their way silently over to where Snap was standing. The zoner remained silent as they approached him. They soon took position on either side of him. Their expressions showed they were a little reluctant to follow him after his failure, but they dare not contradict Skrawl. They would help him find Rudy and bring him back to his cage.

Snap's eyes narrowed as he thought of that boy. He could feel his blood heating up at the memory of what he had done. He could still see Delta's face in his mind's eye. He could see him slumping forward, collapsing to the ground. He could see him looking at him with those pleading, pain-filled eyes. Snap bit his lip. He couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow. Sure he was his rival. But something about seeing him in so much pain...

...and all because of Rudy. Snap's teeth clenched so tightly, he thought they would pop from his jaws. It was Rudy who had caused his death. He had made sure that Delta would be stabbed. It was his fault that he was gone. Snap had witnessed another act of cruelty by the person whom he thought was a friend.

ooo But he is my friend. It was just an accident. I was the one who... ooo

No, he couldn't let those thoughts dissuade him. He reminded himself that Rudy had also grabbed his leg and burned it. Although it was patched up by another Beanie Boy, it still hurt to walk. Even now, it took a lot of his willpower not to scream. He looked down at the leg, flinching at the mere sight of it. He could see some red staining the bandages. He flinched at them.

This was Rudy's doing. He had done that on purpose. Just like he had hurt him in the past, he did so again. There was no way that Rudy could defend himself from that. That had been a deliberate act.

ooo Only because he was defending himself. I know him well enough. He would only hurt if he was defending himself. ooo

Bah, he said to that. If that were the case, then how come he tricked him that one day? What about those experiments? How was Rudy defending himself then?

ooo Or did those experiments really happen? I kind of remember waking up and they were helping me and there was a beast and... ooo

Snap felt a headache spread through his skull. He put his hand against his forehead and gently rubbed it. He wasn't really sure why he was having these thoughts again. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, they wouldn't stop coming. And lately, they had been getting stronger and more persistant. He wasn't sure what was going on. Maybe he needed to lay down or something?

It was then he noticed that the Beanie Boys, and Skrawl, were staring at him. Snap looked left and right, noting their expressions of confusion and uncertainty. He said nothing as he looked around, meeting their gazes. He wondered just why they were doing that. Was he making expressions during his internal struggle? Was he remaining unusually silent and they were wondering why he wasn't talking?

"Is there something on your mind, Snap?" Skrawl said after a few awkward seconds of silence.

Snap quickly shook his head. "No, not really."

Skrawl raised an eyebrow. "Then what were you doing?"

Snap rubbed his hands together nervously. He struggled to find something to say. "I was just...thinking about what I'm going to do to Rudy when I find him. Yeah, that's it."

"I see." Skrawl didn't sound entirely convinced. But the jellybean was clearly more interested in results than finding out what was going on inside Snap's head. "Well enough taking trips down inside your own mind. You will get your chance at Rudy soon. Don't worry." He placed his hands against his hips. "However, I don't want you hurting him. Just capture him." Upon seeing Snap's disappointed expression, Skrawl added through clenched teeth. "It was your unauthorized torture of Rudy that caused this."

Snap looked at Skrawl in shock. "B-But I..."

"Enough!" Skrawl raised his hand up. "If you had just blinded Rudy and left him be after that, this wouldn't have happened! Now quit trying to come up with excuses! If you want to redeem yourself in my eyes, capture Rudy and bring him to me!"

Snap couldn't believe that Skrawl was blaming him for this. He wasn't the one who killed Delta. Not deliberately that is. He wasn't the one who burned someone else's foot. He wasn't the one who performed experiments in the past and mentally tortured someone who was supposed to be his best friend. That had all been Rudy. Why couldn't Skrawl see that this was entirely Rudy's fault? Surely, since the jellybean had saved his life, he would be able to understand this.

ooo He wasn't the one who saved me. ooo

Snap was startled by this thought. For a moment, he regarded Skrawl with a sense of confusion and fear. In that second, his mind briefly questioned why he was taking orders from this guy.

This was thankfully shortlived, and Snap returned himself to normal without causing much of a distraction like last time. Despite wanting to argue with Skrawl, he merely nodded his head slowly, caving into the jellybean's wants. Despite his disgruntlement, he knew he had to do exactly what Skrawl said. He couldn't afford doing something else to get on Skrawl's bad side.

Snap turned his head to the four Beanie Boys beside him. "All right everyone!" He gave a dark smile as he rubbed his hands together. "You heard him! Time to hunt us down a creator..." The Beanie Boys returned his smile. Not wasting anymore time, they immediately took off.

sss

Terry couldn't believe that Dr. Von Doktor wanted her to start working now, despite how late it was. Well he was willing to pay her a lot of money for this, so it would be all worth it in the end. She had never been paid that much before. Well technically she hasn't; Dr. Von Doktor would only pay her once she completed her deed. That shouldn't be too tough. She was good at snooping around. It should be easy to figure out something that would help that crazy old man.

A part of her felt compelled to help him anyway. He suffered like she had. His reputation torn apart because of something that he knew he saw. She could relate to that. She suffered the same way. She would never forget the words that her fellow coworkers called her, or how she had lost one of her reporting jobs because of her 'crazy chalk world theories'. And what connected her to him the most was the fact that they were both humiliated by the same person. Both of them suffered at the hands of Rudy Tabootie.

She gritted her teeth the memory of that brat. She couldn't believe that she was the one who was supposed to help find him and prove Dr. Von Doktor's innocense. Then again, despite her hatred of the boy, he was still a child. She couldn't very well just leave him to a horrible fate, could she? She knew her reputation would be further ripped in half if that were the case.

She wondered where he and Penny could have disappeared off to. Wait, why was she wondering? She knew exactly where they were. Those two sneak off into this world of chalk place and..she had no idea what they did there. Not selling anything or advertising or anything like that. They were probably off doing stupid little children's stuff. Those two were sitting on a gold mine. They had made the discovery of a century. Did they not know how much scientists would pay to have access to a place like that? And yet those two continue to selfishly hide it like it was nothing more than a playground to them.

She knew the parents didn't know. They never acted like they knew anything. She guessed that they felt their kids were just going to a hideout or something to play for hours. Terry couldn't help but shake her head. The fact that these adults weren't curious enough to know where their kids go in the day was truly something. She never met adults so calm about their kids being missing all day. She wondered how they were feeling now. Pretty stupid, she would imagine.

She didn't know yet how she was going to handle the situation if she did end up finding Rudy and Penny. Right now, she wanted to focus on finding clues on where they could be, and gather evidence against Dr. Von Doktor being responsible. That's mainly what the man wanted. Finding them was a bonus. She wasn't expecting it. But... she still had to prepare herself for what she'd do if she did locate them.

The first thing she'd have to do is resist the urge to be snippy with them. She might end up making it look like she was the one who kidnapped them. That's not something she needed right now. So she would have to stay calm with them and try to coax them into following her. She hoped that they would be smart enough to follow her and not stay wherever she'd find them.

Then she would have to make sure the coast was clear. If they were kidnapped and they weren't simply lost, she would need to look around and make sure their kidnapper was nowhere in sight. She decided to bring a small knife with her for self defense if it came to that.

But first and foremost, in addition to getting them to safety, she had to try her best not to discuss that chalk world with them. They would think that she was trying to trick them for information. While that was something she would definitely do, she was more interested in that large sum of money. She could use it to help expose this chalk world later down the line. She could use it to buy better equipment which could be used to help aid her in this quest. She smirked at this. Those brats might have this world hidden for now. But that won't last forever.

Up ahead, she saw that she was getting close to her destination. She wasn't sure what the law said about being on school grounds after school, but the gate was open. Terry recalled how those two seemed to disappear a lot during recess. All she needed to do was do a sweep of the playground. Maybe she would find some clues.

She pulled her van up to park on the sidewalk. She recognized this place as the same area where where she tried to 'interview' Penny Sanchez. She had retreated to the safety of her mother. Terry grumbled at the memory. Of course she was not able to do anything to stop Penny. Not while her mother was there. Not while there were witnesses. She was able to bag Snap but only because he was not around any adults. She doubted she would have gotten away with it if Mr. Wilter had been there.

She slowly made her way over, taking her time. She looked around to see if there were any signs of a camera. If there were any, she didn't see them. But just in case, she held up a written piece of paper and moved it around slowly, allowing any hidden camera to see it. The paper had a note on it, which was pretty much a short statement of how she was just on an assignment. Unconventional and probably not good enough. But she was on short time, especially with how pushy Dr. Von Doktor was being. Once she felt she had held it up long enough, she turned herself around and she began to walk around the playground.

There didn't seem to be anything special here so far. It was just a playground. Nothing out of the ordinary. She could see some chalk marks where children were drawing pictures and playing games. She could see some playground equipment, such as a slide. She could see a bench off in the distance where tired children could rest.

But there was nothing here that seemed suspicious to her. She narrowed her eyes. She didn't want to leave empty-handed. Surely there's got to be something here that...

Ah there it was. Hard to see, but it was there. She saw something very faint on the wall over here. She approached it slowly. She wasn't sure why she was taking her time, but due to her recent past with Rudy and Penny, she learned she could never be too careful. Once she reached the wall, she stared at it and examined it carefully.

Yeah there was definitely something different about this part of the wall. The rest of the school walls were pretty clean for the most part. There was some dirt and marks in several areas, but that's to be expected. There were even chalk markings all around. But these markings... She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something...different about them. Something that stood out over all the other markings.

She stared at it long and hard. Just what was it about this that seemed different? She couldn't think of what it was, but this marking was definitely different. She wasn't sure yet if it was connected to Rudy and Penny, but there was a good chance that it was. Those two usually keep to themselves during recess. It would be just like them to sneak around here to play by themselves. And this would be a perfect spot for...

At this realization, her eyes twinkled. She finally realized just what it was that made this marking different. She peered in a little closer to confirm her suspicions.

Light.

She could see light.

It wasn't much, but it was there. A small light shining among the chalk stains on the wall. A portal that was not fully erased. A tiny, dot fracture into that elusive world. Her first peak into that place ever since she had lost her hair to that stupid frog beast. The very sight of it caused her mouth corners to curl up into a broad smile. At long last, she had physical proof of that place's existence.

She knew she had little time to act. This may be her only chance to do something with it. But...what was she going to do? It was getting late and no one was going to want to listen to her, not at this time of night. Not unless it was an emergency, and to them, this wasn't an emergency. Plus if she left, what if something happened that would erase the portal? No, she'd need to do something about it now, before she left. She thought of a picture, but they might think she editted it. Her camera..yes that would do.

As Terry went to get her camera and brought it over, she could feel her smile becoming broader, excitement pumping in her chest. She had waited so long to find a piece of physical evidence of that chalk world. And now she finally got it. She would love to see those idiots who mocked her try to explain a small light source when there were no lights on here save for the street lamps.

Soon she returned to the wall with her camera. She lifted it up, mounting it on her shoulder. She pointed it at the hole and zoomed in on it. Then she began to speak softly into the camera as she narrated.

"This is Terry Bouffant bringing you a rather interesting discovery. You see this small light here? Want to know what it is? I will tell you..."

As soon as she was done speaking, she turned the camera off and she placed it in her back. She picked it up and she stared at it, chuckling softly. She would love to see those brats try to stop her now. Slinging it over her shoulder, she proceeded with her assignment.

sss

Rudy couldn't stop panting. He couldn't stop running. His feet pounded the ground heavily, the force of each step feeling like they could send vibrations through this whole place. His mouth hung open and he could feel his throat drying up. He licked his lips slowly, struggling to keep them moist in this sticky atmosphere.

He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been running. All he was aware of was his pounding heart, which continuously pumped blood through his body, trying to bring much needed oxygen everywhere. He could hear the distant noise behind him. He didn't dare look back, for fear that he might end up tripping on the ground. Such an act would end up dooming him as there would be no way for him to get up before...

"Gotcha!"

Rudy suddenly felt something collide with him. He let out a scream as he was pushed up against the wall. His left eye widened as he stared into the hideous face of a Beanie Boy. His mind raced. How did they get to him so fast? He soon took notice of the other Beanie Boys coming in from behind, propelling themselves faster and faster in the air.

Rudy pushed himself against the Beanie Boy. His hands grappled with the zoner's despite the agony this caused him and, mustering up as much strength as he could, he shoved the Beanie Boy aside. The Beanie Boy wobbled in the air a bit before turning himself around and trying to grab him. Rudy used this temporary window of opportunity to get back away from him. With a small leap, he evaded the Beanie Boy. He then turned and continued running down the hallway.

By this point, the other three Beanie Boys had nearly caught up with him. Rudy could practically feel their breath against him as he struggled to run as fast as he could. He just barely managed to evade another tackle and soon he began to put some distance between him and the four pursuing Beanie Boys.

Up ahead, he could see a crosswords. Two ways to go. He wasn't sure which one was the correct path, but he had little time to contemplate. Soon he would be upon the point and then...

Wait, just how far away was it? Without his right eye, he couldn't judge distance all that well. His depth perception was gone. He tried to focus on the size of the intersection to help him determine distance. Even then, it was still too difficult and he feared that he would smash into the wall before he would realize just how close it really was. He would have to time it. As he heard the Beanie Boys shouting at him, drawing closer, he prepared himself to make the turn. He watched carefully, waiting for the right time.

Almost there...

Just a little more..

Now.

Rudy turned to the left. He felt his shoulder bang a little against the wall. He realized just how lucky he was to turn in this moment. He soon found himself barreling down this new hallway. But just a few seconds running down, he soon realized just what a mistake it was to turn here.

The hallway here winded. It twisted from side to side. It looked so out of place for this building that it made Rudy wonder for a moment if it was a deliberate trap or if this place hadn't been finished being constructed yet.

He didn't wonder for too long. He turned around to try run down to the other hallway. Perhaps the right one would be better. He couldn't get that far, though, as the Beanie Boys suddenly emerged, their hands outstretched as they prepared to grab him. Rudy skidded to a stop. He turned himself around and tried running down the other way, his feet pounding the ground once more.

Running down this hallway turned out as well as he thought it would. As soon as he had come to one of the turns, he immediately slammed into it, unable to realize how close he was until it was too late. He could feel his mouth push against it and a pounding ache spread through his jaw. He stumbled back and rubbed his mouth. He looked behind him and saw the Beanie Boys had practically closed in on him now. Scrambling to get away, he rushed further down the twisted hallway. The Beanie Boys easily manuerved through, zipping around, gaining on him.

Rudy struggled to keep ahead of them. He tried to avoid hitting against the walls, but this was impossible. He kept timing his turns wrong. His face and shoulder got hit multiple times and he could have sworn bruises were starting to form. On top of that, all this hitting on his face and the stress was irritating his eye injury. He could feel himself slowing down, his body wanting him to curl up in a ball and try to protect his damaged eye. But he knew he couldn't stop. Not here, and certainly not now. He had to keep running. He had to find some place to hide. If he didn't... He shuddered to think of the possibilities.

Eventually the tunnel began to straighten out, much to Rudy's relief. However, this relief was rapidly short-lived when he heard scraping from above him. He stared at the ceiling as he ran, and he could see something wobbling in front. A makeshift vent, and someone was using it. The clang of the rock-based lid fell down and out came an all too familiar blue and white figure. Rudy immediately skidded to a hault.

"Why hello there, Bucko." Snap said in a fake pleasant voice. "How nice it is to see you."

Rudy stood there, staring at the zoner with a wide left eye. He took a small step back. He slowly turned around to try to head down the other way. But to his shock and horror, the Beanie Boys were upon him now. They didn't try to touch him, but they blocked his only way out. They moved in closer towards him, forcing Rudy to get nearer and nearer to Snpa. It took only seconds for him to be completely sandwiched between them.

Snap stared up at him, that same sickenly pleasant smile on his face. He was silent for several moments, as if he wanted to unnerve Rudy a little. Well it was working. Rudy wasn't sure just what Snap was going to do with him. All he could do was stand there and wait for him to say something.

When Snap finally took action, his first move was to place his hand on Rudy's shoulder. This caused the boy to stiffen up at his touch. He looked down at the hand nervously, biting his lip. He was tempted to push it off. Something inside his head told him not to, however, and he remained still, watching Snap warily for any sign of movement or threat. Snap could shift at any moment and then he...

"Such a clever boy." Snap commented. He sounded almost genuinely impressed. "Trying to go down that tell, tricking us to think you went down another. And then the way you suddenly shifted direction before and ran down the opposite direction." Snap chuckled. "That was impressive."

Rudy would usually thank Snap for such a compliment. But the way he was saying them now made him feel so unnerved and fearful. Then again, he had never had to be so fearful of Snap before. He had never been brainwashed like this. And what of himself? Was he brainwashed? The fear of this, combined with Snap's condition, was enough to make his head feel like it was going to split wide open.

"But all good things must come to an end." Snap's grip on him tightened enough to cause a bit of pain. Rudy flinched, one of his arms raising up on reflex. "We tired of this running around, Rudy. It's time that you come with us and face the consequences of what you have done." At this, Snap's eyes narrowed, now showing the anger hidden underneath. "You might have evaded justice before. But that has come to an end..."

"Please Snap..." Rudy found himself saying. "We...we can work something out..right?"

Snap stared at him blankly for a few moments. Rudy wondered if he was considering the suggestion. But the rapidly returning glare showed that this wasn't the case. Before he knew it, Snap's hand was at his throat. Rudy let out a gasp for air as the zoner tightened the grip. "It's too late for such things, Bucko." His face close to his, breath hitting his face, Rudy struggled to turn his head to the side. He could hear Snap's growly, hissy voice in his ear. "Far too late..."

Before Rudy could respond, Snap shoved him backwards. Rudy felt his arms and legs being grabbed by the Beanie Boys. His ankles and wrists were twisted roughly and he let out a yelp of pain. The Beanie Boys held him still, his legs and arms stretched outward away from his body. This deprived him of any way to defend himself should Snap decide to attack him.

The zoner hadn't made a move towards him yet, nor had he given any orders to the Beanie Boys. He just stood there, glaring icy sharp daggers in his direction. Rudy could feel his body running cold just from the mere sight of those white eyes. The same eyes that used to look upon him kindly, but now held nothing but contempt for him. He thought he could see Snap's body giving a few slight shakes, indicating that there was a torrent of emotions rushing through him. Likely a combination of anger and excitement.

Rudy took a moment to look down at his leg. He flinched as he saw the damage he had caused to the zoner's ankle. He couldn't really blame Snap for being angry about that. This was a deliberate act. Even though he had only been trying to escape, that move was still pretty harsh. His blood had burned a deep wound in that leg and he could tell the zoner was having a hard time standing. This was likely why the zoner chose for an ambush instead of outright chasing him.

"Come on." Snap finally spoke. He straightened himself back. He showed some physical effort in pushing back his emotions, any temptation to strike against him himself. "Remember what Skrawl said?" The Beanie Boys nodded their heads.

Rudy squeaked out, "What does Skrawl want with me?"

Snap glared at him. He arched his shoulders up. He appeared to hesitate for a few seconds, but then Rudy felt something collide with his face. Snap's palm struck his cheek, forcing his hand to the side. Rudy let out a yelp of pain at this. He looked back, his left eye widening in pain and shock.

Snap turned to the Beanie Boys as he shook his hand. "This never happened."

Rudy was confused by that comment until he saw the Beanie Boys nod their heads around him. Rudy quickly pieced together that Skrawl likely didn't want him to be attacked. He wasn't sure why. Then again, that jellybean likely wanted him all for himself, the sick, twisted fiend.

"Let's go."

Rudy felt himself being roughly carried back the way he had come. He tried to struggle, but the Beanie Boy's grips were iron tight. He yanked himself from side to side, trying to do something to free himself. It was useless, but he still tried. Maybe if he kept trying, he would be able ot loosen their grip a little and then he could try to escape.

But eventually he gave up. He used up most of his strength in the running and it was really showing now. His muscles tired quickly and he soon hung limp in the air. His head fell forward. He opened his mouth a little wide and he panted heavily, struggling to regain some energy. He watched as Snap limped slightly in front of the Beanie Boys, leading them down the hallway and towards wherever Skrawl was waiting for him. Rudy's left eye filled with fear and then it slowly shut.

sss

(Well that will give you some food for thought.) Thoughtless sneered at her.

Penny shook her head in disbelief. "No..you're lying!"

(Well believe what you want.) Thoughtless merely shrugged its shoulder. (But don't say I didn't warn you.)

Penny glared in the zoner's direction as it walked away from her. It had just finished its second meeting with her, where it had told her more things regarding the red chalk. She had barely had much time to piece together what it said before when it delivered even more information. If she wasn't horrified before, Thoughtless had laid down a bombshell.

She didn't want to think it was possible. She was already terrified enough by what she had learned. The fact that the red chalk and those kids could be linked together, even one and the same, was unnerving. It wasn't something she wanted to think about. She had hoped that the memotrice was lying. Perhaps it was, but she had yet to see anything to contradict those words. It just..made too much sense.

And the whole 'adding strength to the creator'...while she hadn't seen proof of it, it did make sense. She remembered how Rudy was flung away by that machine Snap tried to use to free him. Such an act should have left him bruised, but he came out unscathed. And red chalk drawings did seem as though they had more stamina than a regular zoner.

But nothing could have prepared her for the shock that Thoughtless had just delivered to her now. It was something so chilling and so terrying...and yet there was absolutely nothing that would prove it not to be the case. It was terrifying because of how much such that it made, not in how improbable it seemed. She had spent the conversation and these few minutes alone trying to think of a way to deny that possibility.

But all roads seemed to lead in this direction. No matter how hard she thought, she was just unable to come up with any evidence that led to the contrary of the memotrice's statement.

The red chalk possessed the soul of creators. Mostly child creators, wrongfully placed there. This would explain their irratic and aggressive behavior. They were angry. Permanently angry at the world that had shut them out and trapped them. Forever trapped as an inanimate object, in a form they couldn't even communicate in unless another creator held them.

And who had put them there? Who had punished those children so severely? Who would have done the same thing to Rudy and her if they hadn't won his trust?

Biclops.

The very idea of that zoner being capable of such..such cruelty..wasn't something she wanted to ponder. She had talked with that large zoner many times, and he always seemed like he was so nice. He had never tried to harm them or anyone, and while he had shown anger, it was never to the point where they felt they should run for their lives. Biclops was just...too friendly. To think he could be capable of this barbaric act...

Then again, it didn't seem all that farfetched. She recalled how he had been when Rudy first met him. He wasn't the nicest of guys then. He was trying to hurt Rudy. She had seen the look in his eyes. She had seen the malice that shined in them. This zoner was trying to actually hurt Rudy. This realization dawned on her, causing a cold shiver to go up her spine. If he was willing to hurt someone who was only eight years old...then perhaps he really did do something to those other children. Biclops never did say what happened to them...

She shook her head. No, she couldn't let herself think like that. She couldn't let herself believe that Biclops would be capable of such a cruel act. Something else happened to those children. She wasn't sure what, but she knew that it had to make more sense than Biclops doing anything about them. Thoughtless was just trying to confuse her, to mess her up. Perhaps to make her an easier sacrifice to the red chalk.

Then it dawned on her. Why was the memotrice so determined to do that to her? Why did it want her to fuse with the red chalk? Perhaps it was just merely confirming it? Maybe it really didn't know what it read was true and thus it was just checking? That was the only thing that made sense to her. It did mention something about an experiment, didn't it? She was certain that it had.

The question was, if this experiment turned out to be a success, what was the memotrice planning? It hadn't told her what it wanted to do with the red chalk, or at least its powers. Never once did it hint on anything of what it wanted to do.

Her only thought is that it wanted to harness the durability of the red chalk, its raw power that it displayed. But...then what? What was it going to do with that power? Take over ChalkZone? Or did it have something else in mind? She clenched her teeth, her mind spinning from all the possibilities. She had already tried to ask the memotrice to elaborate, but it had merely dodged the question by asking one of its own. And she doubted Skrawl would be of any help. That jellybean probably doesn't know what the memotrice is really planning.

She slumped down to the ground, her mind swimming with thoughts. Now that she knew all of this...what was she going to do about it? She had no magic chalk to try to escape. She had no help. She was all alone. Even if she did have help, this dome was sealed up tightly. There was no escape route for her. Even as she looked around carefully, she couldn't see anything that would help her. It was all just glass, too thick for her to break with her fists and there were no solid objects in here for her to use.

But though she felt despair cling to her chest, though she felt too weak to get up, there was still a part of her that held onto hope. There was a way out of here somehow. She and Rudy had been able to squeeze out of trouble before. They could do it again.

At least...that's what she hoped.

Just then, she heard footsteps approaching. She whipped her head around, expecting to see Thoughtless returning, or Skrawl. Instead she was greeted by the sight of Snap. Seeing him immediately made her heart freeze and her body stiffened up. The fact that he wasn't even smiling at her, he was just staring out ahead into nothingness like she didn't exist, did little to calm her nerves down. She wondered what Snap wanted her for.

But she soon realized he wasn't here for her. He was bringing someone with him. As the zoner limped, which she finally took notice of, there were four figures..no, five, behind him, getting closer. As soon as they got into the light, Penny recognized the fifth figure she had nearly missed.

"R-Rudy...?" Penny whispered softly, her voice barely audible.

Rudy was secured in the air by the Beanie Boys. He didn't look badly hurt, but he looked exhausted and almost mentally defeated. His head hung low, his bandage covering his right eye loosened up a bit, his left eye drooped and staring at the ground. His mouth hung open and she could hear his pants from over here. It was clear he had exhausted himself trying to escape the Beanie Boys' grasp.

Snap motioned to one of the Beanie Boys to fly up and open the door. The one holding Rudy's leg let go. To Penny's shock, the boy didn't even try to squirm when the zoner let his leg go. The Beanie Boy immediately flew up and pressed a button, allowing the door to open. Penny scrambled back as Rudy was thrown into the dome roughly after Snap gave a gesture of his hand. The door was immediately shut.

Penny locked her eyes onto Snap. He finally seemed to notice her and he stared at her blankly for a few moments. Despite the lack of an expression, Snap's eyes almost seemed to be smiling at her evilly. She could sense the anger burning inside those visual orbs and it was enough to make her blood run cold.

Wordlessly, Snap turned and began to walk away. The Beanie Boys followed close behind him. Penny was confused by the lack of action, but she didn't really complain about it. She turned her head down to Rudy, who laid slumped on the ground, not bothering to get up. She dropped down onto her knees next to him and reached her hands out towards him.

"Rudy? Are you...?"

Suddenly, before she could touch him, the boy struck out at her, letting out a hiss. She could see his left eye wide in horror. It was as if he had just finally figured out where he was and who he was with. She leaned away from him, holding her hands against her chest, as she watched Rudy scramble up to his feet. He immediately moved back away from her, his teeth bared at her fearfully. She could hear his growling filling the air.

Penny took a small step back as she watched Rudy's fearful reaction of her. It was clear that he was still afraid of her after what she did. She could feel her heart clenching up in guilt. She lowered her head slightly. Her eyes never left his. Poor Rudy... He was shaking so hard. He looked like he wanted to leave, but the realization that he was trapped with her was making his heart race, his head turning left and right as he tried to find a way to get out of here. But just as she realized before, Rudy knew there was no escape.

Then Rudy stopped growling altogether. Penny watched as his facial expression relaxed a little. She caught a glimpse of guilt in his eyes. It was as if Rudy never meant to react like that to her. She noticed how he was looking at her now. Almost longing, like he wanted to be near her, but he couldn't bring himself to move towards her. In an attempt to comfort him, she started to walk towards him...

...only for him to cringe and give a soft, quiet hiss. Penny immediately backed away, which helped Rudy to relax again. Realizing that she couldn't get that close to him yet, Penny opted to sit down not too far in front of him. She looked at him with a sympathetic expression, eyeing his injuries and flinching at them. She wished she could do something to help him.

For now, they just sat in silence. Penny tilted her head up, looking towards the ceiling and that small dot of light up there. She narrowed her eyes softly. Somehow, she and Rudy would escape.

Somehow, someway, they would.

sss

The five zoners before him remained in their bowing position. Their heads lowered, their eyes closed, they showed nothing but utmost respect for him. They were silent, awaiting for their next orders. None of them dared to make move until they were told to, out of fear they might upset him.

They performed quite admirably. He was inspired. He was glad that they hadn't made the same mistake as before and waste time doing something they weren't supposed to. Now they had that boy in custody as well as the girl. Things couldn't get any better. Any previous anger he had for them was replaced with a genuine smile. He no longer doubted his choosing of second-in-command.

"Great job, boys!" Skrawl complimented as he smiled down at the five zoners. "Now we have both creators in our midst and they are defenseless!" He clutched his hand tightly at this as he imagined ripping into them. He had to remind himself that Thoughtless had other plans. "And I know you couldn't have done it without his help."

Skrawl stared directly at Snap as he said this. The zoner seemed to instinctively know that he was being looked at. He lifted up his head and stared up at Skrawl. He slowly climbed up to his feet as Skrawl gestured for him to come over, his claw bending back and forth. Snap soon reached Skrawl, but he kept his head lowered in respect. He smiled a little, but still held an air of uncertainty. Skrawl was pleased with this. Snap learned fast.

He reached over and he placed his hand on his shoulder, his claws lightly touching. "I must commend you on a job well done, Snap. I am pleased to see that you not only learned quickly, but you were able to capture Rudy in record time. Impressive!"

Snap's smile spread slightly. "Thank you, sir." He closed his eyes lightly, his head once again lowering. "It was my pleasure."

Skrawl removed his head and took a step back. He raised his hand up and pointed a claw in one direction. "You are dismissed!"

The sudden dismissal came as no surprise to the Beanie Boys. Snap, a little, but he was still new. It would take time for him to fully adjust. It didn't take him too long to get the hint, though, and soon he joined the other Beanie Boys as they left. They walked down the hallway. Skrawl didn't look away until they had disappeared from sight. Only then did he turn around and move towards the nearby seat.

He sat himself down and he leaned back in the seat. He tilted his head up slightly, thoughts running through his mind. He could feel a strong sense of elation move through him. Things were working out quite well. Better than he had expected. Sure they had hit a snag, but thanks to Snap's intervention, they were back on track. No longer did they have to worry about a little child roaming around, potentially causing problems. Not even Biclops could do anything, and the other zoners weren't really aware of what was happening.

Despite it not being how he wanted to get rid of them, at least Rudy and Penny would soon be taken care of. Thoughtless already figured something out. He was surprised that he didn't remember the plan. But oh well. There was so much going on that it was easy to lose track of something.

ooo I am Skrawl. I don't lose track of anything. ooo

Skrawl lifted his head up in surprise when he heard that voice. He looked from side to side to try to find the source. He couldn't see anything. He blinked a few times and then he shrugged. Must be his imagination.

He took a moment to smile and appreciate how easy everything was going to be after all this is done. Without Rudy and Penny getting in his hair, nothing was going to stop him from taking over ChalkZone. Nothing was going to prevent his enslavement of the zoners. No zoner would dare try to stand up against him. And he even had a new recruitment. Snap might be Rudy's creation, but under Thoughtless's control, he made quite the ally. A part of him hoped that this brainwashing stayed permanent. He would hate to lose such an ally.

But he'd still need to wait for everything to come through. The plan wasn't yet finished. They still needed to initiate the next step, which was to fuse Rudy and Penny with the red chalk. He wasn't entirely sure why Thoughtless wanted to do that or what significance it would have. The bird reptile hadn't been too open about what it wanted.

ooo Because it might use that against me. ooo

Skrawl was surprised by that thought. It didn't seem likely that Thoughtless was going to turn against him. He had been with it this whole time and never once had been altered. If Thoughtless wanted to do something with him, then it would have done so by now.

ooo It already has. That plan was never approved. It was trying to trick me. ooo

Skrawl shook his head at that uncomfortable thought. It was a scary notion, the idea of being controlled secretly. He couldn't help but shiver as he stared down at his hand. For a moment, he started to wonder if he really was controlled to some extent. And if he was, just what had Thoughtless done with him?

He had to struggle to push the thoughts away. This must be just related to his nerves. Yeah, that's all it was. He was getting really excited about this plan coming through. He could feel his heart burning and thumping. He could feel the energy rushing through his body. It took him so much to prevent himself from shaking too much. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. In that moment, he had no more doubts. The uncertain thoughts left him completely.

But he was still curious about this plan. He wanted to know more. He would need to go talk to Thoughtless. He would need to tell the zoner that enough was enough, that if it wanted his continued cooperation, it would need to tell him what it was trying to do. Or else, he...

(Hello, Skrawl.)

The jellybean jolted at the sudden voice from within his head. He looked around to find where Thoughtless was. With mental voices like that, the direction was so hard to determine.

(Behind you.)

Skrawl could see Thoughtless standing not far from him. He couldn't tell how long it had been standing there, waiting for him to turn around. Had it just arrived or was it waiting for a while? Skrawl didn't bother apologizing, though, as he turned his full attention on the memotrice. What perfect timing.

(I take it that Snap was successful?) Asked Thoughtless.

Skrawl nodded his head. "Rudy is locked up with Penny right now." He smiled as he raised his hand up in gesture. "Without their precious chalk, they will not be able to escape. So we no longer have to worry about them."

Thoughtless repied, (That's good... I was beginning to worry that we wouldn't be able to get them together. But now we have the problem of trying to keep the red chalk on them this time. I had to remove the one on Penny's because it was trying to attack Cornerstone.)

Skrawl frowned at this. He didn't really care too much about Cornerstone. But he also didn't like any discrepancies among his followers. The fact that Cornerstone and the red chalk were going to fight was not a good sign in his eyes. He would need to do something in the future to ensure that this didn't happen.

(Further more, the recruitment apparently takes longer than I thought. I was not prepared for this. If I had known, I would have done something about it.) Thoughtless frowned, turning its head to the side. A thoughtful expression plastered over its face. (We will need a way to make sure they don't escape..) It pressed its wing against its lower beak. (There is tying them up...that could work to keep them still.)

That would certainly work. Although it was a little mundane for what he was hoping they'd do. Skrawl would like to make their immobilization more terrifying and painful. Snapping their limbs would surely keep them from going anywhere. Besides, it's not like the red chalk needs their bodies to be in tact, right? Or did it? He wasn't sure. And didn't Thoughtless indicate that it wanted them to be as little injured as possible?

"I have plenty of rope stashed somewhere." Skrawl told it. "I can bring some over if you want."

(Not right now. We have some time.) Thoughtless tilted its head to the side. (Not like our 'guests' are going to get away any time soon.)

That was indeed true. Rudy and Penny had no where to go at the moment. They were trapped here with them. They had no hope of escape. Skrawl could relax, something that he usually couldn't do during a plan in progress. "When are we taking action with them, then?"

(In time, Skrawl. In time.)

Thoughtless's simple comment was filled with a sense of mystery. Which reminded Skrawl of what he had wanted to ask him. He decided to ask now before he forgot again.

"What is your plan?"

Thoughtless blinked a few times at this, its eyes narrowing slightly in confusion. (I do not know what you mean. I told you what I was planning on doing. Fusing those two children with the red chalk. Well at least Penny. I am still considering keeping Rudy around for more experiments.) It raised up its wing in gesture. (That might be the better option, actually. It would help with...)

"Can you just answer my question?" Skrawl was surprised at himself, but he did little to stop the glare from coming over his face. "Why do you want to sacrifice them...I mean, Penny, to the red chalk? What did you have in mind?"

Thoughtless remained silent for a few seconds. Then it said, (I don't know why you're so interested.)

"Because I'm part of this plan, too." Skrawl hissed. He pointed a finger at himself. "And I deserve to know."

Thoughtless looked like it wanted to protest. But then it deflated itself before it could speak. (Yeah..I do suppose that you make a good point there.) Thoughtless lifted its head slighlty, pointing its beak down. (I could tell you later. After we get those two...)

Skrawl was having none of it. "No!" He slammed his fist against the wall. This was enough to startle the memotrice. "I want answers now!"

Thoughtless was quiet, staring at the jellybean. The silence that fell upon the room was almost unnerving. Yet the jellybean hardly paid attention to it. He just stared at the memotrice, his glare piercing through the air, practically cutting through the memotrice's head. He made it clear through his expression that he was not taking 'no' for an answer. He wanted an answer and he wanted it now.

Thoughtless's eyes soon began to gleam a little. This was enough to snap Skrawl out of his momentary trance. He took a small step back when he saw the way Thoughtless was looking at him. He could have sworn the pupils became more blade-like and he could see Thoughtless's eyes narrowing into slits. There appeared to be a slight brown glow eminating from those eyes. Realizing that he might have gone a bit too far, Skrawl waved his hand in front, moving back a bit further. He was glad that his Beanie Boys weren't here to see this.

"Now...I just wanted to better understand this whole plan. I..."

Thoughtless took a step towards him, raising its wings slightly. Skrawl could see the small sharp claws on the wings, and they almost appeared to be pointed towards him. (You are a bit too inquisitive for your own good sometimes, Skrawl. If you want to know more about my plan, you will wait.)

Skrawl attempted to protest. "But..."

Thoughtless silenced him with a low, unearthly screech. It permeated through his soul and made him freeze. He couldn't bring himself to say anything else. He just stared at the memotrice, not daring to make a move at this point. He couldn't help but wonder if one more move would provoke the memotrice into doing something with his memory. That was an experience he hoped he never had to find out.

Thoughtless opened its beak a little, its small, sharp teeth exposed. (Do not worry. You will find out in due time. But for now, do not ask me that question again. I need more time to make sure that it pulls through first. I will not tell you about it if I think that there is a chance that it will be upturned. Otherwise, you might end up slipping, making mistakes. And that is not what we can afford right now. Understand?)

Skrawl hesitated for a moment. "Yes." He finally said.

Thoughtless smiled at this. (I am glad we are on the same page now, Skrawl.) Its eyes started to glow. (I'd hate to think what would happen if you did something to..mess that up.)

Skrawl shuddered at this. Then he felt something tingling in the back of his mind.

sss

The memotrice had to work fast to fix that memory. It realized that it had gone a little too far with its threats. It might have done something to make Skrawl suspicious. So it worked quickly to alter his memories so that Skrawl would not remember those threats. A quick and easy adjustment to make.

Skrawl had left a few minutes ago. It couldn't remember exactly where he was going. But that did give it some time to think alone. It began to wonder if it should have told Skrawl what it planned. It knew that Skrawl was going to just keep asking. Even if it had told Skrawl to wait, it knew him pretty well, and it knew that Skrawl was going to make another move at some point. He was going to do whatever he could to get answers. Maybe it should have just told him to avoid the headache.

But it knew it couldn't have done that. There was still work to be done. Plus, it didn't know how Skrawl would react to such a plan. It was fine with experimenting on those human children. But how would he react to his idea regarding the red chalk? Its uncertainty made it less willing to tell Skrawl about it. It couldn't have him being unruly during these times.

But it wasn't just Skrawl it had to worry about. It couldn't help but get suspicious that Biclops might still be around. This would definitely prove problematic. If its hunch is right, Biclops might be the first one to break free of its spell, and if he managed to do that, then he might... Well it wasn't sure entirely what he was going to do. Either take action himself or recruit more help. Not that it couldn't easily take care of that, but it would much rather avoid these problems before they started.

Perhaps it should send out a couple of the Beanie Boys to scout for him. It wouldn't be too hard to convince a couple. Most of them were just laying around doing nothing anyway. They were probably bored. Telling them to locate Biclops would give them something to do. Once it learned of where the giant was, it could then figure out a plan based around this. Perhaps it needed to trap Biclops or something. Perhaps lock him in his own Chalk Mine. Yeah, that should do the trick.

It then remembered that it wasn't just Biclops who might be problematic. It was starting to get suspicious of Snap as well. It had watched him from a distance and it noticed the look in his eyes. A few times, Snap would get this certain expression that indicated he was having an internal battle. It had seen this look in only one other victim of its, and if it remembered right, said victim was able to fight back against the mind alteration and his true memories came to the forefront.

Could this be what is happening to Snap? That would certainly be a major problem. It would need to do something to prevent any lose of control over Snap. Perhaps another further rewiring of his brain would help solidify things. It didn't want to do that just yet, however. It wanted to see if Snap starts acting strangely. So far, the superhero zoner hadn't really tried to challenge it nor did he try to do anything to mess with it. He still appeared loyal to Skrawl. So long as he remained this way, there was no need to take action.

Ah well, there was really no point in doing anything about him right now. That zoner was knee deep in this place. Even if he did somehow regain his memories, he had nowhere to go. Someone would catch him and prevent him from going anywhere. Then it could take care of him again then. For now, it wanted to focus its attention on its plan.

It thought about perhaps reading more of those books to see if there was anything that it missed. Yeah, that wouldn't be a bad idea. It never knew if there was an important detail missing. It was determined to make its idea become a reality. It had come too far to fail now and it would be damned if it ended up failing all because it didn't read the fine print or any extra details that would be important.

Thoughtless immediately headed towards its room. It didn't meet much opposition in the way. It had found a couple of Beanie Boys and it momentarily stopped to give them the orders to find, but not engage, Biclops. The Beanie Boys immediately left. It hadn't run into anymore on the way to its room.

It didn't take long to reach it. Once it was there, it moved towards its nest where it had stashed away the books. As it went over, it couldn't help but be amazed that Skrawl hadn't done anything with these ideas yet. Perhaps the jellybean zoner felt they were out of his league or were useless or something. Go figures. That zoner didn't seem to have a good idea on what was a good idea and what wasn't. Obsessed with simply ruling ChalkZone... What a primitive idea. Any nutjob can do that.

But it would take nothing short of geniusness to pull this off. After all, not just anyone can pull off what it was about to do. It was going to do something truly remarkable. Something that it was certain no one had ever thought of before. It would be spectular. Sure the attempts at making zoner useable chalk failed. But the red chalk still had another use. Something far more useful than just giving zoners the ability to draw.

After all, wouldn't it be far more impressive to grant sentience to all chalk? Wouldn't it be far more interesting if chalk could draw on its own? And most of all...

...wouldn't it be just fabulous to open the gap and bring ChalkZone and the Real World closer together?

But first, onto reading. The memotrice perched itself down, curling its tail inwards against itself. It opened up one of the books. Once it got itself comfortable, it pointed its head down and it began to read the passages.

It spent a few minutes reading, moving its eyes from side to side. Most of this stuff, it had read already. But it wouldn't hurt to reread them. It never knew when there was something that it had overlooked. Something incredibly important. It did come across some interesting information it didn't know, but none of it was going to help speed up the plans or anything, so there was no need to worry about them.

It was about to put the book down and move onto another one when it noticed a passage it didn't see before. It pressed its foot against the page to keep it from slipping away as it leaned its head closer. It focused its eyes intently on this paragraph, reading and rereading to make sure that it wasn't mistaken. After it finished reading for the sixth time, it narrowed its eyes into slits. Well, this was going to be a problem.

Thoughtless hadn't realized this before. It wasn't sure why it didn't. It wanted to smack itself for not noticing it earlier. How could it have missed such an important detail, especially with how important it was to its goals?

Well, there was no use complaining about it right now. At least it knew now, so there was still time to correct this oversight before it potentially became a problem later. It decided it was best to do that now before things slipped away from it. It was often better to take care of things first thing, especially if they were important. And this was quite important indeed. It lifted its head up and looked towards the door, its eyes narrowed in determination.

Now..where was that jellybean?

sss

Well that was it. There was nothing else here. Nothing that would neither confirm nor deny that Dr. Von Doktor was involved. Then again, what did she expect when she came here? That scientist hadn't been here since that science fair months back. But then, perhaps someone else could have come here and...

No, she saw nothing. No signs of those brats being followed by anyone or harrassed. Just the usual 'markings' of sorts left by regular children. There was that bully...she forgot his name, but she had seen him pick on Rudy and Penny a few times. Could he have had a hand in it? No, she doubted it. He didn't seem smart enough, or nasty enough, to do something like that.

Perhaps she had placed too much hope in finding something here. But it was the one place she knew those two hung around the most other than their own home. And she doubted she could get permission this late to go there. She might need to get permission tomorrow in order to come down to their place and speak to them or look around. They probably won't be happy to see her, especially if they get an idea that she blamed them for the children's disappearances. Which certainly wasn't the case; she had little reason to suspect the Tabooties or Mrs. Sanchez, or Dr. Sanchez if she wanted to go by her official title. They didn't seem like the sort that would do something like this.

...then again, she was aware that some parents may act and look loving, but do terrible things in order to garner attention. And she knew that Mrs. Sanchez was always looking for new customers with her home business, and Mr. Tabootie was constantly trying to get attention for his meat. So was it possible that they were involved with their own children's disappearances just to gain attention for business?

As sad as it was, she realized it was still a possibility. Perhaps she should regard them as suspects. But not say it outrigh, of course. She knows how defensive people can get, regardless if they were truly involved or not. She would lay off it for not. But if she did find something that led in that direction...

Then she might not have a choice.

But this day wasn't a complete waste. Terry smiled as she looked down at her bag. She gently patted her hand against it. She did finally get some piece of evidence for that world of chalk. And this time, those brats didn't know she had it. They couldn't do anything to stop her. She had the upperhand.

She wouldn't show it right away of course. She wanted to get this business with the kids taken care of. She would first store the camera at her place, where it would be completely safe. Then she would keep her mouth shut about the chalk world so the children wouldn't think she was trying to pry them for information regarding that. Then once the children were back with their parents, safe and sound, and once she got that large sum of money from Dr. Von Doktor, she would then take that footage and bring it to someone to look at. Surely they wouldn't think she was making it up if they saw that odd light that should not be there. Especially if they saw the raw footage straight from the camera itself.

She looked up at the sky. It had gotten dark out already. The stars were shining and the street lights had long been on. She could see the crescent moon shining above her, providing a little bit of additional light.

Now was a good time to start heading back. She would have to resume her investigation later. She was limited with what she could do at night and she didn't want to press her luck. She needed to get some rest anyway. She hadn't had a good night sleep in a while. She sometimes had bad dreams revolving around that day she nearly exposed that chalk world. She clenched her teeth as she recalled the horrific images of that frog thing, and how it caused her to be bald on national television.

The laughter...

The jeering...

The mockery...

She remembered it all. And with each memory, she could feel a burning stab in her stomach. She could feel herself growing sick by the second. She let out a hiss through her teeth. That little brat had gotten inside her head more so than he realized. Although the nightmares had shrunk in number, she still had them. Some days were better than others.

She tried her best to shake the thoughts out of her head. There was really no use in getting upset over it. At least now she had an upperhand over Rudy and Penny. They wouldn't be able to pull a trick like that on her anymore. With this evidence that she head, she'd be able to get all that she wanted in one easy swoop. She would get back the reputation that she deserved. She would be able to get back at those who mocked her by proving them wrong. But most of all, she would be able to get revenge on Rudy and his two pals for what they did to her. After all, what better revenge would there be than to expose that world they were so selfishly guarding?

She slung the bag's strap over her shoulder and she began to make her way towards her parked van. She opened up the back and swung her bag inside. She flinched as it clanged against the stand the computer was attached to. She let out a sigh of relief when it didn't fall over. She then shut it and went towards the driver's seat. Once she was in, she put the key in the ignition, turned on her van, and soon she was off.

As she drove off, her thoughts went to Rudy and Penny. She felt her expression softening up slightly. Despite hating them, she did hope they were all right. They were just children, and any desire to hurt them herself was borne out of anger. Justifiable anger, but it wouldn't be enough to excuse her behavior if she actually did something to them.

Besides, she could use them. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she thought about this. They knew that world of chalk really well. They had been to it more times than anyone. Their knowledge could prove useful for when plans to explore that world was put into effect. But she wouldn't ask them right away. No, she'd wait until after that world was exposed. Because by then, it'd be too late for them to stop her. Perhaps they'd be more willing to cooperate after their ego is smashed and humbled.

A smile twisting along her face, Terry continued her drive home.

sss

Reggie had a hard time getting to sleep. No matter how much he tossed and he turned, no matter what he tried, he just couldn't close his eyes and get to sleep. He let out a frustrated groan as he pushed his head underneath his pillow, hoping that, by some miracle, he'd get to sleep.

But of course nothing happened, and he knew why. He was still thinking about what happened lately. From seeing that thing of light on the wall, to trying to get information from Rudy and Penny, only to hurt them in the process, to getting in trouble, to the punishment, to the interrogation, then his dad's anger and temporary accusing of Rudy and Penny's parents, and then the realization that there was someone out there hurting people...

Needless to say, it was realy hard to feel relaxed knowing all of that. His dad tried to calm him down, tried to tell him there was really no use in him beating himself up over something that couldn't be changed, but Reggie couldn't really relax. He was used to hurting Rudy, but never like that. He hadn't meant to go that far. And how could he not worry about that mysterious guy? The one that assaulted Rudy and Penny right under everyone's noses?

He had already tried to relax himself and try to tell himself the police will figure it out. The parents had supposedly set up cameras to see if that man would return. Chances are he wouldn't, but he could see the need for security. There was that saying he heard his dad say at least once. Better safe than sorry. And nowadays, he felt it would be better to cling to that and be diligant than to let it go and then have something horrible happen. He wasn't sure how he'd react if his lack of action resulted in himself or his dad getting hurt.

True, there was little reason to think that he'd be targeted next. But...who would target Rudy and Penny? He couldn't really think of anything himself, outside of any his dad had suspected. But even them.. he couldn't think of a reason why they'd take such a risk. The attack had taken place at one of their yards. He forgot which one, but this still didn't change his point. It would take a lot of skill and guts to get into someone's yard to hurt their child.

He felt like he should do something. He didn't know if he could just sit here, doing nothing. His mind was spinning around too much. His teeth were clenching too tightly. His thoughts were swimming. He couldn't think of anything that he could do in order to calm himself down...except to take action and actually go try to find out answers.

He felt like he owed Rudy and Penny for what he had done to them. And this would be a perfect way to do that. If he could find out who had hurt them, and who had taken them, if he could get them to safety or at least bring to light who was responsible so he could be dealt with, that would be the most affective apology, wouldn't it? After all, actions speak louder than words. That was a saying he took to during his bullying. Now he had another use for that saying.

But he couldn't do anything right now. Even though it was tempting to climb out the window and do something now, he didn't want to do anything to freak out his dad. He knew that his father was already in a rut as it was. His emotions were all over the place and he often shifted quickly because of the confusion and the stress. He didn't want to do anything that would make that worse.

So as much as it pained him, he didn't have any choice other than just sitting here and hoping that he'd fall asleep soon. He was going to need his strength for tomorrow if he was going to figure anything out. Maybe things would be easier if he had help...

But who would want to help him? Who would believe him? He had never been too nice to anyone. He couldn't see anyone, not even his 'friends', wanting to help him out. And none of the adults would either, he didn't think. He might be on his own with this.

Wait, wasn't there that one woman? What was her name... Bouffant? Yeah, Terry Bouffant. She tended to follow those two around a lot, right? He had seen her around here, trying to interrogate those two. Maybe she would know how to track those two down? Or perhaps, she even had something to do with their disappearances? There was only one way to find out for certain. Tomorrow, he would start.

sss

"Rudy...come on..." Penny whispered softly as she tried to get closer. "Let me look at it..."

Rudy hunched his shoulders and hissed at her. He didn't mean to. He wanted so much to put all of this aside and forgive her. He still wanted to be her friend. He still considered her a friend. But the pain in his eye kept reminding him of what she had done, and his brain was telling him to keep her away from him.

He partially blamed himself. Penny seemed content on hanging back and leaving him alone, but when he showed too much discomfort regarding his eye, she had sprung into action. Or at least, she tried to until he swatted at her, hoping to keep her away. Penny looked determined to try to help him. He could see the look of guilt in her eyes, which easily explained her determination. But he would have none of it. Not while he was like this. If she got any closer...

There, she took another step. Rudy felt his body tense up. He was struggling against himself not to make another move. But she had gotten too close to him again. He couldn't stop himself from instinctively striking out against her. Penny moved back, staring at him with wide eyes. He gritted his teeth and hissed a single phrase.

"Go away..."

Penny's expression softened up more at this. He could feel a pang in his stomach at this. He felt a little guilty for acting this way towards her. A part of him realized that he was being irrational. But emotion often won over logic, and in this situation, his fear had a strange hold on him. He couldn't help but envision her taking out his other eye.

His racing mind kept interpreting Penny as some large, shadowy figure with red eyes and a gleaming, evil grin. He could almost see her pull out a knife and rushing towards him with it. Her voice sounded less sincere at times, clouded by a laughter he kept thinking she was giving. This was how his deepest, darkest mind was interpreting her, even though his eyes were telling him quite different. In addition, he could still see her striking at him, plunging that nail into his eye and laughing about it. Again that wasn't what happened, and he knew this, but he hardly paid attention to it as his fear overrid his judgment.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. He was doing his best not to strike out against her. He did his best to keep away from her, and focus on his own pain. But her just being in the room, being unable to escape from her sights, it was starting to work him up. He could feel his body shaking as he struggled to keep himself as calm as possible.

But sooner or later, something was going to give. The question was, just how bad will it be when he finally snapped?

"Oh Rudy...I wish you wouldn't be like this. I'm just trying to help..." Penny whispered as she stared at him longingly. She looked down at his hand, flinching at the bit of died blood still present. "I want to help..." She lifted her gaze and stared over at what he guessed was his eye. "...please. Give me a chance."

Rudy was not able to stop himself from grinning almost viciously at her. The sight of it must have been bone-chilling for her to see. He felt a pang of guilt, but that did little to stop him from what he said next. "Yeah sure... The last time I gave you a chance, you took out my eye!"

Penny looked at him with the most guilt-ridden eyes that she could muster. It almost made Rudy stop glaring at her. Keyword: Almost. "Rudy... You know that was an accident. I-I didn't mean to... I was just trying to get you away from Snap and..."

"Yeah, Snap... Because you thought that he was telling the truth! You wouldn't listen to me, whom you had known longer!" Rudy snapped at her, using more sharpness than he had intended.

Penny bit her lip for a moment. She looked as if she was having a hard time thinking of something to say. Although he'd be ashamed to admit it, he was glad she wasn't responding right away. That gave him a few seconds to cool down. But he had a feeling that it wasn't going to be enough.

"I realized that I was wrong about Snap. But..you can't really blame me, can you?" Penny raised her hand up in gesture. "I mean...with this memotrice business..I..." She looked to the side. She shut her eyes and sucked in a breath through her clenched teeth. "I had no way of knowing what happened. How could I have known that you weren't...changed by the memotrice?" She looked back at him, her eyes widening as if she was finally realizing the full weight of her assumption. "Oh gawd, Rudy.. I'm so sorry..."

A part of Rudy wanted to forgive her. He wanted to put all of this behind them and forget that it happened. He wanted to move on from this. He wanted them to return back to how they were before. He wanted them to be best friends again. He didn't want his mind to be ruled by fear for the person he cared about so much.

But he couldn't stop the lingering bitterness inside of him. He had never been able to fully cast that aside. It remained with him, burning his stomach, making him sick almost everytime he tried to think about Penny. He was not proud of this, and he felt like slapping himself in the face. But he couldn't deny that his anger still loomed over his head, and he was getting a growing temptation to strike out at Penny. He just hoped he'd be able to control himself enough to prevent that from happeng. The last thing they needed right now was for a deeper wedge to be placed between them.

"I know you're mad at me. I don't blame you. I still made a horrible mistake. Your eye is damaged because of me. Perhaps even permanently..." Penny sniffled at this. "I...I can't believe that my actions had..done so much harm. I-If I had known..." She looked down towards the ground. Tears began to emerge from her eyes. "Please, Rudy... Let me try to make up for what I've done to you... Let me look at your eye... Please..."

Rudy felt the hairs on the back of his neck start to bristle at this. He couldn't stop the defensive growl from escaping his throat along with the following statement, "No way... Why don't you go make yourself useful and go..." His voice trailed off.

Her voice stinging with emotion, Penny asked tentatively, "..go do what, Rudy?"

He turned his head away from her. He shut his left eye slowly. Despite his anger, he knew he couldn't finish that sentence. It would have been going way too far. "Nothing. Just...just leave me alone... Please.."

He could still feel Penny's eyes staring at him. He could practically feel them cutting through his soul. He could sense her heartbreak and sorrow even from here. It intermixed with his guilt, making it stronger. He couldn't help but take in a shuddering breath, but for all Penny knew, he did this to try to mask his anger. He soon heard her let out a soft, defeated sigh.

"...okay then, Rudy. But just remember, I'm here for you. When you are ready to have that eye checked out, just...let me know, okay?"

Rudy didn't answer her verbally. He did give a weak jerk of the head, but nothing more. He didn't even bother looking at her. He kept his gaze away, trying to get his swimming emotions to calm down. He gritted his teeth as he struggled the best he could to relax. Yet he could still feel his negative emotions ripping through his head, threatening to rip him apart mentally. He wished he had some kind of bucket laying around. It was so tempting to use one.

He couldn't believe all that was going on lately. What had started as a hopefully quick operation to stop the memotrice, which was only supposed to take a few hours at most, had turned into a nightmare. He and Penny were prisoners here without magic chalk and their best friend had been turned against them. They had even been turned against each other because of that stupid eye incident. He wanted to cast aside his anger of that, but..he just couldn't help it.

And then there was the memotrice, whose plots he had no idea what they were. He had little idea of what it was planning, and he guessed Penny was in the dark as much as he was. He bit his lip as frustration swept his body. If he had an idea just a slight idea, of what the memotrice wanted, then that would be of a great comfort. He already knew about what was nearly done to Penny, but he had little idea of just what that zoner wanted to do with her should it have been a success.

Oh how he longed for everything to be back to the way they were. He wished the memotrice didn't exist. He wished that Skrawl was back to losing. He wished that he and Penny didn't have this wedge between them. He wished Snap was still their friend. He wished that they were exploriating new places in ChalkZone, having fun, enjoying themselves, meeting new zoners. He wished that all this strife was over, that the zoners didn't have this monster to worry about, that Biclops hadn't been targeted by such a fiend. He wished none of this had happened.

All these thoughts soon overwhelmed him. He brought his legs together, hugging them against himself. The horrible sting of his wounds hardly fazed him as much as his memories and emotions did. He curled his lip down a little and, unabled to take it any longer, he allowed the tears to flow as he cried.

sss

She couldn't blame him for not being willing to forgive her just yet. She couldn't blame him for being so angry, so unwilling to speak to her. After all, she had hurt him quite badly, and frankly, she was angry at herself as well. She wished she had seen through Snap's lies, the memotrice's lies, and avoid this whole thing.

Instead she was such an idiot, so naive. If she had been watching Snap's behavior more closely, she would have noticed something off about him. If she had gotten herself to look more thoroughly, she could have avoided this whole mess. She couldn't help but blame herself for this. She had little reason to be angry at Rudy in that regard.

But still... she wished that he would listen to her. She wanted to resolve this. She wanted to push it behind her and him. She wanted them to move on from this. But Rudy was having none of it. He didn't seem interested in reconciling. He just wanted her to stay away from him. He showed absolutely no desire to listen to her apologies. He didn't make any attempt to try to work this out with her. Despite understanding why, she couldn't help but feel a level of disappointment in Rudy. He was usually willing to try to fix problems that he caused. Why couldn't he do the same for her?

Probably because it was her, and not him. He seemed willing to try to fix problems he caused, but when it came to other people, he seemed to have a harder time. She never really noticed this before, and perhaps she was overreacting a bit. But Rudy just wasn't being all that fair to her. He seemed willing to try to make up for what he did wrong before, so why couldn't she?

Oh well, there was really nothing she could do make him talk. He was determined to give her the silent treatment and she was better off just keeping quiet herself and wait for Skrawl or Thoughtless to make their next move against them. Rudy was in no mood to speak to her right now, and if she tried to get him to talk now, she might provoke him and get a more nasty response. So for now, she went silent and waited.

Her mind went to what Thoughtless told her before regarding the red chalk. Her mind was still swimming and swirling from those thoughts. She wanted to believe that it was all a lie still, but she knew that she couldn't just pretend it wasn't a possibility. As much as it hurt her, she needed to keep it in the back of her mind. It was best to err on the side of caution than to pretend something didn't happen, only for it to bite her back. Sure, she had made a miscall with Rudy, assuming that he was altered, but this...there was something about this that she just couldn't dismiss completely.

The idea that Biclops could do such a thing... It was too much to think about. She never thought that Biclops could be capable of doing that to children. And yet at the same time, she could see it. He had hated creators before. He had good reason to. He had suffered so much and seen so much... Why would it surprise her at all that he would do something like that?

But then...why wouldn't he tell them? Why couldn't he confide in them what he did? It was clear, from when she and Rudy met him as a friend, and their interactions with him after, that Biclops would not do something like that again. He seemed to have gone beyond the savagery and the barbaric acts of his past. He could have just fessed up to them and they would have not held it against him. Honesty was the best policy in many situations.

Even if he couldn't tell them that...he could have at least told them about the red chalk. He could have spoken to at least Rudy about chalk that shouldn't be used. If he had done that, then Rudy would have known to avoid the red chalk and those horrible incidents revolving around Rudy and Reggie never would have happened. She couldn't believe that Biclops thought that keeping it a secret was a good solution. If he had that sign up about keeping out, then he must have known Rudy would have eventually traveled there. If that's the case, then why didn't he just tell Rudy up front?

Her frustration and anger regarding Biclops soon faded as she started to think about the memotrice again, regarding something else that it had said. Sacrificing her to the red chalk, fusing her with it... The thought made her shudder. She didn't know if it was possible. She didn't know if Thoughtless's talk of Biclops, what he did regarding the red chalk, was even true. She had to admit, the connections were pretty strong, yet she couldn't be entirely certain if it could happen. Regardless, she still felt cold terror with the idea of becoming red chalk.

She didn't even know yet what Thoughtless wanted with the red chalk, other than it involved life somehow. This, she didn't think she'd ever understand. The red chalk didn't create life; it destroyed it. Well okay so it allowed its creations to come to life, but the first thing they all did was attack and destroy and try to kill. She refused to believe that the red chalk had any value or purpose other than destruction. She refused to believe that it was created by zoners to help them make their own creations. Why would the zoners want something so destructive? Surely they would have known the dangers of red chalk before they used it and...

...or would they?

She had to remember that neither Rudy nor Snap, or even Reggie, knew the dangers of the red chalk until it was used. It had actually taken Rudy a while before he realized what was going on, and Reggie had fallen under the red chalk's influence. All this had taken time, and by then, it was already too late. They were both under the red chalk's control and it took a lot of effort just to get the crimson menace to stop.

So perhaps she should start to consider the possibility. If that was how red chalk was created, maybe there was some way to track down the zoners who made it. Maybe if they found at least one of them, they could figure out how to undo it. Maybe they could even release the children's spirits, provided there were any.

Yeah, that could be...

"Aaaaahhhhh!"

Penny nearly jumped at Rudy's scream. She put her hands to her mouth when she saw that Rudy had his hands to his covered right eye. The back of them anyway, keeping the wounds away from it. She could see that he was shivering and sniffling, struggling not to cry more.

She quickly determined what was going on. It must be the tears. She had heard him crying moments ago. Tears had salt in them. The salt must be irritating his eye. He must have cried enough that some of the tears went down and... She shook her head. She didn't have time to ask herself just how this was happening. She had to do something to help him. She couldn't just...

But would he let her close enough now? Or would he try to strike her away like before? Could she get near enough to him to be able to help? Would he allow her to be that close? Or would the pain cause him to push her even further away? She knew there was only one way to find out.

"Rudy...?"

At this, Rudy looked over at her with his good eye. His teeth were bared, but out of fear or pain, it was difficult to say. He was still making noises of discomfort, but his screams had quieted down when he looked over at her. It was almost as if, in addition to scaring him, the sight of her had a calming effect. And yet she knew he was still afraid of her... She moved slowly and carefully towards him.

"It is all right, Rudy." Penny whispered softly. "I'm not going to hurt you. Shhh.. It's going to be all right. I know you're in pain. Please...let me help you. I can help make the pain go away..."

She wasn't entirely sure if she could. But she had dealt with more injuries than Rudy. She could do something to at least help him be more comfortable. She could reduce the pain for him and help the eye to heal quicker. But first, she needed to get close to him. Based on his earlier behavior, she didn't think he'd let her too close. But she had to try. He was her best friend.

She took a few slow, tentative steps towards him. Rudy cringed away from her, and his teeth clenched tighter. She could see his body shaking a little harder, likely from a mixture of emotions. He didn't attempt to speak, but she guessed this was due to the pain. She could hear a low whimper once in a while come from his mouth. He was trying his best not to cry. She could see the pain shining in that left eye of his. But he couldn't stop; it only seemed to be getting worse. This caused her to bite her lip and she continued moving towards him slowly.

Rudy cowered away from her, drawing his body back. He scrambled up to his feet and he backed away from her slowly. Each step she took forward, he took one back, his teeth bared at her as if he was going to bite her. His fingers flexed a little, showing eagerness to strike and defend himself. Despite these clear threats, Penny understood that Rudy was reluctant to actually hurt her if it didn't have to come to it, and his expression shoed that he did actually want her help; he just couldn't bring himself to relax.

She stopped herself from advancing. She could tell that she was scaring Rudy too much and they would not get anywhere if he didn't relax. So she moved herself back a little and kept her head low to make herself look as non-threatening as possible. She looked at him with great concern, trying to keep eye contact with him so that he understood that she only wanted to help.

"Rudy..." She whispered as she moved her hand towards him a little. "Please.. I want to help you. I want to help you feel better. I know you are hurting right now. And I know you are scared. I understand why you feel that way. I know I wasn't a very good friend when I pushed you. I should have known better. I'm so sorry for that, Rudy. Please...let me make it up to you. Let me help you. I don't expect you to forgive me so quickly. All I want right now is for you to feel better. Do you understand?"

Rudy glared at her, looking somewhat disbelieving of her. The sight of this caused her heart to sting. But she couldn't really blame him for it. She stood her ground and waited for his response. When he gave a slow, uncertain nod, she continued.

"I can help you feel better, Rudy. If you let me look at your eye, and your other injuries, I promise I will do what I can to help you feel better." She did her best to ignore the pain in her own palm where the red chalk was ripped out. "Please give me a chance to make it up to you. I really am sorry for what I did, Rudy. I feel so horrible... I can't imagine what you had gone through. You must have been so scared and frightened...and you're in so much pain. I want to help take away the pain for you."

Rudy seemed to relax more at these words. She could see that his body was not as tense as it was, and his fingers stopped curling eagerly. His frown slowly faded a bit, and he straightened himself up. He still looked rather guarded, but he no longer looked as if he wanted to jump at her and bite her head off.

Now she needed to get closer. But this was going to be tricky. If she did it too fast, she might trigger a reaction and she'd back down to square one. She first needed to be sure that Rudy wasn't going to attack her out of fright. And she knew one way of doing that.

"May I come closer?"

Rudy stared at her with uncertainty written in his left eye. He turned his head to the side, watching her warily. She made not another sound, letting Rudy have all the time in the world to decide. She did nothing to speed him up, knowing that this was a delicate moment, and if she rushed him, she would break her chance to help him. Then Rudy started to move his head to give his answer.

He nodded.

Penny gave a small, caring, sympathetic smile as she began to make her way over towards Rudy. She took slow, careful steps as to not alarm him. Rudy got a little tense as she got closer, but she was glad to see that he was able to keep himself calm. The sound of his sniffling alerted her he was still in a lot of pain, causing her heart to sting. She hoped that she would be able to do something to help him.

Once she got close enough to him, she looked intently at his bandaged eye. She flinched when she saw the stained blood on it. Poor Rudy... If only she hadn't... She shook the thought out of her head immediately and she focused on trying to help him.

Before she reached out towards him, she asked, "May I look at your eye, Rudy?"

When Rudy gave the hesitant, slow nod of approval, Penny immediately placed her left hand on his right cheek. Her other hand went to work gently peeling back the bandage so she could have a look at the eye.

sss

Biclops wasn't sure how long he had been walking. He wasn't even sure where he was going. He just kept going in one direction, lumbering slowly. He didn't pay attention to anyone around him. He didn't respond when someone tried to speak to him. All he focused on was walking, trying to reach the destination that he wasn't sure of.

He did feel stupid for leaving behind the Chalk Mine unguarded. But something told him that it was going to be fine. Nobody goes there anyway except Skrawl and he had gone down this way. If he kept following this path, surely he would run into him.

Or would he? Why would he even think that Skrawl would keep going in one direction? For all he knew, the zoner had went somewhere else, or had a hidden passageway that he wasn't aware of. He may have just made the biggest mistake of his life by going down this way, pursuing after Skrawl despite knowing that leaving the Chalk Mine alone was a big mistake. He couldn't believe he had done that. Oh why...why did he do something so...so stupid...?

It was this confounded headache. His judgment had been affected by it. The pain spread through his skull, interrupting his thought processes, making him more prone to making a mistake. Yeah that had to be it. And...no, he couldn't blame it on that. He should have known it was stupid even then. But then..it hadn't been the only time he made a mistake.

He did allow those humans to roam around in ChalkZone despite the threat they obviously showed. All those humans, running around, destroying everything, being utter monsters... If he had just done something about them sooner, if he had just tried to act more quickly, then perhaps he could have prevented those disasters.

Sure he did finally get rid of the humans. He managed to do something to ensure they would never harm them again. Those humans were powerless now, stripped of their ability to bring damage to this world. Their callousness had been put to an end. But it had taken so long... Just how many zoners had been harmed in the process? How many died before he corrected his error and did something? He felt at fault for what happened. If only he acted sooner...

And Rudy and Penny... What possessed him to let them into ChalkZone? Why would he ever think that they would have been different? They had been doing terrible things behind his back, all while pretending to be the good guys.

But just like before, his thoughts were interrupted by those same doubts. The ones that told him that those two were innocent, that Rudy had been the one to fix his eye, not take it. Those thoughts clouded up the inside of his skull more, making his headache even stronger. It was almost like someone had taken a blade and was trying to plow it through his cranium. He struggled to push aside the doubts, but he was having an increasingly difficult time, and it forced him to consider that one possibility again.

Had he been wrong about them? What if they really were innocent? Despite all the sharp images in his head, despite the vivid memories, could they actually be wrong?

There was just something..nagging in the back of his head. Something telling him that there was something wrong here, something that he should be wary of. He couldn't help but think that there was something important that he was supposed to remember. But...just what was it? What was he forgetting?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard some zoners speaking. He looked left and right and he soon hid behind the nearest large mountain. Thankfully he fit behind it quite easily. He watched as a couple of stick figure zoners were walking down, both looking very worried. One even looked heartbroken.

"I can't believe that it happened... It was so sudden. I mean..I know it was a while ago, but still... I can't..." The crying stick figure said. He wiped his nose, cleaning off the clear fluid that was stainding his face.

"I know, but...but something will be done about them." The other whispered to him. "It will be all right. You'll see. They will be brought to justice for what they did."

Upon hearing this, Biclops narrowed his eyes. So it seemed that Rudy and Penny really were the culprits after all. They had done something awful to these poor zoners. Oh once he got his hands on them, he was going to...

But the talking wasn't done yet. As soon as the crying zoner managed to calm himself a little, he started to speak again.

"Y-Yeah, but... You heard the news lately... You heard what happened to Blocky and Rapsheeba. You heard what the Great Creator is dealing with."

Great Creator... Why does that title sound so familiar? It was like a far away name that he had forgotten about until now.

"He will do something to stop them, I'm sure. I mean...I know he's missing, but...but Rudy wouldn't let us down, right?" The other stick figure responded.

The sound of this nearly caused Biclops to gasp in horror. How could these two think that Rudy and Penny were their allies? Did they forget what they had done to them? They were talking about damages, which those two most certainly caused. But in the next breath, they were talking as if Rudy and Penny were their heroes. How could they think like this? Unless...

...unless they weren't talking about Rudy and Penny. But someone else... But who..?

"That stupid memotrice will pay for what it had done to my friends." The crying stick figure stated. He formed a fist with his hand and he looked ready to punch something. "I want to go find him...and I want to tear him apart! And Skrawl, too! I don't know what that monster wanted, but the fact that he wanted to take the memotrice with him.. We can't afford to let him get far with his schemes!"

The other stick figure shook his head. "We don't even know where that thing is. How could we be expected to find it? Besides, you and I both know that it can alter memories. You told me what happened to those guards, how the memotrice so easily turned them against one another just by tweaking their memories. You know that it's too dangerous to get close to it..."

Biclops's eyes widened at this. His mind began to flash. He had been familiar with the word memotrice and he had recalled seeing it. But he hadn't remembered what it was capable of exactly until he heard it for what felt like the first time from these two zoners. The memotrice...yes..he remembered something about bad news of its existence, how it was terrorizing ChalkZone briefly before getting caught, and then Rudy had...

He shook his head. No, that couldn't be what happened. What of the vivid, colorful memories of Rudy and Penny causing trouble? What of all that he had seen that proved that Rudy was the enemy? But..if the memotrice really was the culprit in that unfortunate attack, and it was working with Skrawl, then...perhaps Rudy really was innocent.. Perhaps his memories had been faked and...

He struggled not to scream as a sudden, pounding headache came over him. His body trembled as he dropped down onto his knees. He clutched his head tightly, his teeth gritted. He struggled with his memories. They swam about constantly, zipping this way and that. They constantly fought for dominance, making his headache worse. He tried to rub his temples to make it go away, but it seemed to only make it worse.

He slowly opened up his eyes as he struggled to push those thoughts aside. He took a step forward, but flinched when he felt the sheering pain zip through his head. He put his hand against his forehead once more, rubbing it instinctively. He put his other hand on the mountain side and braced himself against it. He shut his eyes once more and tried to ride out the pain.

It was then that he heard something off in the distance. It was faint and he couldn't exactly identify it. But something told him that he should look. Despite still being in some pain, he forced his eyes open and looked over to see what it was. At first, he saw nothing. He kept looking, scanning the land for any sign of...

There. He saw something. It was moving at an elevation in the air. It was oddly shaped. It was both squarish and roundish and it had some kind of weird, round protrusions at the sides. What was...

No, those weren't protrusions. They were other zoners. Flying ones, but without wings. As he put his hand over his head to block out the sun to get a better look, he realized there was some kind of chair there, and someone was riding in it. He saw a rounded shape that tapered off near the bottom, and he also noticed some kind of greenish color...

It was Skrawl...

And he was headed straight for...

The Chalk Mine.

His eyes wide in horror, Biclops immediately took off after the evil jellybean. He hardly noticed the two confused stick figures shouting at him as he passed by. He just focused on getting to Skrawl, hoping to stop him before he got close enough to the mine.

If only he had been watching more carefully. Otherwise he would have noticed another group of pairs of eyes staring at him, their owners snickering and preparing to make their own move.


End file.
